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" O on a \ S. a Spear. O. Crest a Falcon, wings display'd, 
' A, supporting a Spear in |. O. Granted 20 October, 1596, to 
1 JOHN SHAKESPERE, of Stratford-upon-Avon, in Com. Warr., Gent., 
' per Will. Dethick." — {Index Coll. Arm.) 



SHAKESPERE'S HOME 

AT 

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON. 



Being a Hifiory of the "Great Jtfoufe" built in the Reign 
of King Henry VII., 2^£-Sir Hugh Clopton, 
Knight, and fubfequentli£tke property of William 
Shakespere, Gent., whei%idie lived and died. 



BY 

J. C. M. BELLEW. 



Imprynted in London, 

FOR 

VIRTUE BROTHERS AND CO., 

i, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row. 

mdccclxiii. 



?P ,V^ 



T> 






TO THE REVEREND 

GRANVILLE JOHN GRANVILLE, 

B.C.L., 

Vicar of Stratford-upon-Avon. 

My Dear Vicar, 

Allow me to Dedicate to you the following 
Account of New Place, which would- never have been 
written but for your hofpitality. 

To you, and to cur friend, Mr. Hunt, I, and a little 
circle of friends, have, on two occafions, been under 
great obligations in making pilgrimages to Stratford. 
If you can fpend half-an-hour pleafantly with me, I 
hope you will receive my little Book as an affurance 
of my lively recollection of the happy hours which 
I have owed to you. That you may, in recruited 
health, long live to guard that Shrine which is com- 
mitted to your keeping, and to enjoy the affectionate 
refpect of your Parifhioners, and troops of Friends, is, 

My dear Vicar, 

The fincere wifh of 

Your much obliged, 

J. C. M. BELLEW. 

Thames Cottage, Hampton, 

JS'eiv Yeai^s Day, 1863. 



PREFACE. 

/~\N entering a Continental Cathedral 
^^^ the traveller's attention is arretted 
by an iron Corona ftudded with burning 
tapers. They are the humble offerings 
of devotees. 

The following pages are my humble 
offering at the fhrine of that intellectual 
edifice, io vaft in proportion and fo lovely 
in detail, which our Shakefpere erected by 
his works. Let me ftand where the iron 
Corona does, clofe to the portal, holding 
my feet in reverence, and not venturing 
to tread, with any pretence of critical 
furvey, the long drawn aifles of that 
ftupendous ftruclure which aftonifhes 
and delights the mafter minds of our 

race. 



viii Preface, 

race. I mall not need to be told that the 
" farthing-candle ray " is a very appro- 
priate fimile to charadterife the following 
pages. It is fo. But let me pray that it be 
not blown out, or muffed out, with cruel 
heedlelfnefs (puffed, of courfe, it is not 
likely to be), becaufe, though its quantity 
of illuminating power be but a " little 
" inch of light," fo far as it does extend, 
I believe it difperfes fome darknefs, and 
may prove ufeful in giving other pil- 
grims to the fhrine, a momentary glimpfe 
of dim diftances, which may excite 
curiofity, and the defire to explore their 
hidden receffes. 

In fimple language, I believe a great 
many facts regarding Shakefpere remain 
to be brought to light ; and that, while 
the critic or fcholar has little left to fay 
that is frefh or new regarding his works, 
the antiquary may have a great deal to 
difcover and to fay regarding the man. 

It 



Preface. ix 

It is remarkable what a labour of love 
has been expended by many eminent 
men of my own profeffion upon the 
works of the Poet. In their wake I 
have not dared to follow ; but I mail 
have done fome good, I truft, if I 
detect a need and point it out, fo that 
others, wifer, and better than I, may 
provide for its fatisfaction. The title of 
my book fuggefts a fubject upon which 
there refts the darknefs of an almoft pro- 
found ignorance. What do we know 
of the man Shakefpere in his home — in 
his domeftic, focial, moral character, in 
his home affociations and his home afTo- 
ciates ; — nay ! what have we cared to 
know of him in them ? 

Let not the reader be deceived, and 
tempted into reading my book by fup- 
pofing that I pretend to lift the veil, and 
with my tiny taper to illuminate the 
darknefs. I do not. But I do try to 

make 



x Preface. 

make the darknefs vifible ; and to the beft 
of my opportunities, I have ftriven to 
caft a little light upon fcattered points, 
and fome few fafts, which I think have 
not previoufly been published. 

The ableft and moft learned man 
would fpeak with modefty and hefitation 
regarding any work he might publifh re- 
ferring to Shakefpere. It is with the moft 
iincere diffidence that I venture to let the 
following pages pafs through the Prefs ; 
but I take courage to do fo from the 
belief, that every one who will honour me 
by reading what I have written, will fee 
that I have honeftly laboured at the facts 
of my fubjecT:, and that the opinions I 
venture to exprefs, are alfo honeftly put 
forth. 

If I extend this Preface to an inordi- 
nate length, it is from my anxiety to 
have my object underftood — or, at leaft, 
not mifunderftood. 

The 



Preface, xi 

The Pedigrees introduced in this work 
have coft an infinity of labour, which, 
the uninterefted or uninitiated, would 
never fuppofe, in glancing over their 
ftatiftical defcents. It would be unfair 
to criticile them as if they bore the im- 
primatur of a King-at-Arms. Herald's 
College will only fmile on them as the 
productions of a tyro. So they are. 
But, whatever amount of light they give, 
the flint and fteel have been my own. 

Ut varias ufus meditando extunderet artes 
Paulatim, * * * * 
Etjilicis venis abftrufum excuderet ignem. 

I believe I am turning inquiry in a ufeful, 
and much neglected direction, by preffing 
fuch pedigrees upon the confideration of 
thofe who are curious in Shakefperian 
inveftigations. My reafons for fo doing 
will be found in the body of my work. 
Whether I have laboured to a purpofe 

and 



xii Preface, 

and done good, or laboured in vain, I 
leave others to judge. 

To the Clopton Pedigree I muft draw 
particular attention, and efpecially to that 
branch of it referring to the Combes 
family. In the Appendix (Article, 
" Combes ") the reader will learn the 
difficulties and perplexities encountered : 
and will, I am certain, give me credit for 
a painftaking purfuit of my object, and 
hold me pardonable if I mould be found 
hereafter to have made any miftakes. In 
the Appendix, likewife, will be found 
many curious facts reflecting upon the 
perfons to whom reference is made, 
which I confidered could not be legiti- 
mately introduced into the body of my 
work. The lingular difcovery made, with 
regard to the man Bott (Appendix A, 
p. 341), will explain how it came to pafs 
that New Place was originally fold. 

" ^uif'excufe, f'accufe ! " If io 9 my 

excufes 



Preface, xiii 

excufes muft amount to felf-accufation ; 
but of one thing I do not accufe myfelf, 
and that is, of thankleffnefs to the various 
friends who have given me their help, 
To Mr. T. Duffus Hardy, Deputy 
Keeper of Public Records ; Mr. Burtt, 
and Mr. Cole of the Record Office ; to 
Mr. Planch^ and his confreres at Herald's 
College; to the Vicar of Stratford, his 
Curates, and William Butcher, the Parifh 
Clerk ; to Mr. Clarence Hopper, in 
making a variety of refearches for me; 
to Mr. Hunt, Town Clerk of Stratford, in 
patiently enduring my endlefs letters and 
inquiries ; — to thefe gentlemen, and to a 
number of others, whofe kindnefs has had 
my private thanks, (becaufe they object 
to being mentioned here,) I am greatly 
and fincerely indebted. Let me offer 
my thanks likewife to another perfon. 
To John Middleton, Attendant in the 
Reading-Room of the Britifh Mufeum, 

not 



xiv Preface. 

not only of late, but for years, I have 
been indebted for conflant attention. I 
thank him. moft heartily; and think I 
do myfelf honour when I go a ftep out 
of my way to mark the obligations, which 
thofe who frequent the Britifh Mufeum, 
the Record Office, the Will Office, and 
all other fuch public inftitutions, owe to 
the courtefy always extended to readers 
and fearchers, not only by the fuperior 
officers of thofe places, but alfo by their 
humbler affirmants. 

I mall be pleafed, if, on doling my 
book, any of my readers feel a freshened 
intereft in the Man — William Shakefpere; 
and above all, I mail be beft fatisfied if 
they are led to think with me, that this 
Prince of Poets was a worthier and better 
man than we vulgarly account him ; that 
Shakefpere's Home is a fubjecl deferving 
our ftudy and rerpect ; and that he was 
no hypocritical mouther of fine fenti- 

ments 



Preface. xv 

ments, inditing with his pen the nobleft 
and loftieft teaching, and belying it in 
the conduct of his life. 

I conceive that no one can teach 
effectively, that which he has not himfelf 
felt earneftly ; nor until good can be put 
for evil, and evil for good, can I bring 
myfelf to think that the pureft intellec- 
tual refrefhment of a race thirfting after 
knowledge, pours from a polluted fource. 
I picture Shakefpere to myfelf as an em- 
bodiment of the manly, honeft, and lofty 
virtues, which his Mufe delights to 
crown with honour ; and half my rever- 
ence for him would be gone if I did 
not feel morally convinced that the 
greateft of all human teachers, was not 
only a Great Man, but alfo a Good Man ! 



*^.* As Shakefpere's name has been fpelt by fo 
many different people in fo many different ways, I 
may remark that the orthography I have adopted is 
that of the Grant of Arms in Herald's College, 1596 5 
believing, as I do, that the fpelling in that document 
was dictated by Shakeipere to Dethick. 



CORRIGENDA. 



Page 205. — "no one could/' read " no one would." 

Page 205. — "Gilrow," read " Gildon." 

Page 218. — "thofe years enjoying," read " thofe years 
as enjoying." 

Page 230. — " Revels," read " Revel." 



NEW PLACE, 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 



%*******%**********%**%*X%%%%%%%%%% 



^^^ " was a Fair Houfe, built of brick 
" and timber, by the faid Hugh, wherein 
" he lived in his later dayes and dyed. 
" On the fouth fide of which Chapell 
" {lands the Grammar School." Thefe 
words, quoted from Dugdale's "War- 
" wickfhire," and referring to Sir Hugh 
Clopton, Knt., were, until the other day, 
the chief record porTeffed by Englishmen 

of 



New Place, 



of the houfe in which William Shake- 
fpere alio "lived in his later days, and 
" died." At length the ftones prate of 
his whereabout, and it feems defirable 
to lay their information before the public. 
Every one, even remotely interefted in 
the fubjecl:, is aware, that a fhort time 
back, the land on which Shakefpere's 
houfe was known to have flood (ufually 
denominated " Shakefpere's Garden," and, 
as fuch, pointed out to perfons vifiting 
Stratford-upon-Avon,) was for fale. It is 
equally well known that an appeal was 
made to the public by Mr. Halliwell 
[vide The Times, October 15, 1861], and 
that the plot of land in queftion, was 
refcued from the grafp of private {pecu- 
lators, or fhowmen, to be verted in the 
charge of truftees, and by them to be 
prefer ved for ever — fet apart, and, in 
effect, confecrated to the memory of the 
man who lived there, happily accordant 

with 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 



with the prayer expreffed in Garrick's 
words : — 

" And may no sacrilegious hand 
Near Avon s banks be found, 
To dare to parcel out the land, 
And limit Shahespere s hallowed ground. 
For ages free, still he it unconfined, 
As broad and general as thy boundless mind'' 

As foon as the fympathy of the public for 
the object in queftion was exhibited, the 
ambition of its promoters expanded as 
the fubferiptions increafed; and nothing 
lefs than the full and entire recovery of 
the eftate once porTeiTed by Shakefpere 
at New Place, would fatisfy thefe ardent 
and enthuiiaftic individuals. 

Goldfmith complained (to Dodfley 
after dinner) that his was an " unpoetic 
"age." There are many chatterers of 
the prefent day who repeat the com- 
plaint, which feems to have become 
ftereotyped for all time. It was a foolifh 

thought 



New Place, 



thought to fay "an unpoetic age/' for every 
age rnuft feem to the men of the day 
matter of fact and unpoetic. To-day 
always appears profaic ; yefterday and to- 
morrow — fubjects of retrofpection and 
anticipation, not objects in poffeffion — are 
the fit themes for poetry. Goldfmith's 
age, however profaic it may have feemed, 
gave him good proof of its poetic appre- 
ciation ; and fo our age (iron age though 
it may be) gives equally good proof of its 
admiration for the real poet and for ge- 
nuine poetry, wherever it finds the one, 
or reads the other. 

If the true poet lives in the hearts and 
memories of his countrymen, how much 
more the Prince of all the Bards ? 

There are thofe who will boldly affert 
that Shakefpere's works do not attract, 
and that people generally, care little or 
nothing about Shakefpere himfelf. It is 
not to the purpofe in this place to enter 

into 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 5 

into any difcuffion upon fuch topics. It 
might, however, be argued that the 
ftudents of his works have found them- 
felves compelled (unlefs contented with 
being guilty of ignorance) to make the 
Poet's plays the companions of the clofet ; 
and that from the ftudent's clofet the 
moft valuable interpretations of his text 
have iffued of late years. Such an argu- 
ment would infer that the marvellous 
creations of the Poet's mind command 
peculiar reipect at the prefent time ; and 
it may be unhefitatingly aflerted, that 
abundant evidence is forthcoming to 
prove that this is a fact. There has 
not been an era in Englifh litera- 
ture more fruitful in labours of critical 
comment upon the text of Shakefpere, 
and more inquiring into every fort 
of evidence likely to throw light upon 
his life and hiftory. It might alfo be 
argued, that the people of England are 

juft 



New Place, 



juft as proud of, and juft as interefted in, 
the fame of their countryman — are juft as 
anxious to preferve with facred care every 
relique and memento of the brighter!: 
genius the world has ever produced, as 
any of their forefathers have been. Cir- 
cumftances, perhaps, would warrant the 
affertion that the prefent generation ex- 
hibits more intereft in him, and more 
reverence for everything connected with 
him, than any other fince his death. The 
fentiment of George II., that Shakefpere's 
plays are bombaft, no longer commands 
courtly acquiefcence ; and the Carlton 
Houfe fafhion of depreciating his works 
(particularly by thofe who had never 
ftudied them) is a fafhion that has had 
its day. Doubtlefs, the confervative feel- 
ing of this period with reference to the 
Poet's birthplace, his laft refidence, and 
the few reliques connected with him 
that furvive, has been operated upon by 

that 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 



that revival of tafte for architecture, and 
that reverence for mediaeval art, which 
does honour to the reign of Victoria, and 
will hereafter fignalife it. The hiftorian 
will tell how, from the fixteenth to the 
nineteenth century, the ecclefiaftical archi- 
tecture of England univerfally, and the 
domeftic generally, became bafer and ftill 
more bafe ; until, towards the clofe of the 
Georgian era, it reached a depth of de- 
gradation (land-marked by the introduc- 
tion of Roman Cement and Cockney 
Villas) than which nothing could be more 
infamous. The fame hiftorian will tell of 
the great work that Pugin did, of the 
confequent refufcitation of tafte, and of 
love for architectural beauty becoming a 
neceffary part of polite education. He 
will tell how (as the legitimate accompa- 
niments of fuch regenerated refinement) 
the Englifh people awoke to the convic- 
tion that the fabrics of their churches 

had 



8 New Place, 



had been at the mercy of Goths and 
Vandals, and that the moft inter eft ing 
hiftorical remains of domeftic architecture 
had been lhameleffly deftroyed or barba- 
roufly mutilated. Then came the Refto- 
ration : a reftoration in its particular pro- 
vince more beneficial and remedial than 
fome chronological events defignated by 
that phrafe have proved. 

To the therapeutic fpirit, fo happily 
prevalent in England at the prefent period 
regarding mediaeval art, may fairly be attri- 
buted fome meafure of the intereft, and a 
great amount of the funds, which have 
been fubfcribed to reftore the birthplace 
of Shakefpere, in Henley Street, at Strat- 
ford ; and alfo to fave his laft place of 
refidence from being utilifed for " build- 
" ing lots," or vulgarifed by any fpeculative 
Barnum. 

For fome months the fubject has 
dropped out of public notice. The terrific 

calamity 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 



calamity at Hartley Colliery, and the 
incumbent fubfcriptions of all generous 
and charitable people, for the widows and 
orphans of the deceafed ; the heavy vifi- 
tation upon the Queen and country, fol- 
lowed by the Memorial Fund ; and laft 
of all, the increafing want of our long- 
fuffering and brave fellow-countrymen in 
Lancafhire, calling for the admiration and 
fympathetic contributions of thofe who 
can aid them in their dire neceffity, 
have, for a period, checked any appeals to 
public fympathy, except thofe of an urgent 
character. 

In the face of fuch griefs and fuch 
wants, it was impoffible for the Shake- 
ipere Fund fubfcription lift to keep its 
place before the public. It has, probably 
for this reafon, been temporarily with- 
drawn. If fo, the act has been judicious. 
While the fubjecl: is in abeyance, it may 
be well to confider what has been done 

with 



io New Place, 



with the money fubfcribed, becaufe a 
judicious expenditure already made, would 
be the beft bafis of appeal to the public 
for further moneys to meet future outlays. 

It is familiar to every one, that Shake- 
fpere's refidence at Stratford was called 
" New Place." There are popular errors 
in exiftence, both about the place, and 
the name of the place. It may be accept- 
able to the reader if a few fads. are thrown 
together to tell its hiftory, which will be 
no information to thofe who have been 
interefted in New Place, but may be 
inftrudive to many not " read up" in the 
fubjed. 

New Place came from, and returned 
to, the family of Clopton. The Clop- 
tons pofferTed it long prior to Shakefpere's 
time, and repofferTed it by intermarriage 
(fubfequent to Shakefpere's time) with a 
daughter of Sir Edward Walker. 

Dugdale (as quoted) ftates that the 

houfe 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 1 

houfe was built by Sir Hugh Clopton, of 
brick and timber. Sir Hugh lived in the 
reign of Henry VII. The general ap- 
pearance of the building can be eafily 
imagined, though there is no drawing of 
it in exijience. 

The plate on the oppofite page gives a 
reprefentation of a houfe built about the 
fame time that Sir Hugh Clopton erected 
" New Place." It prefents to us the front 
elevation of " Ockwells," in the parifli of 
Bray, Berkfhire, at prefent porTeffed by 
Mr. Grenfell, of Taplow. This houfe is 
stated to have been built during the reign 
of Richard III., and is one of the very few 
fpecimens of domeftic architecture now 
remaining of that date. The Great Hall, 
until lately, was adorned by a beautiful 
ftained-glafs window, emblazoned with the 
armorial bearings of Henry VII., and the 
Duke of Somerfet ; but, in a fpirit akin 
to Vandalifm, this moft interefting rem- 
nant 



12 New Place, 



nant of antique heraldry has been removed 
from its proper place, and fixed up in 
Mr. GrenfelPs new houfe, on Taplow 
Hill. It will not furprife the public, 
knowing this fact, to learn that Ockwells 
is turned into an ordinary farm-houfe ; 
that its architectural intereft and artiftic 
beauty, as well as antiquity, are apparently 
unappreciated ; and that its noble hall, 
with open-worked Gothic roof and oak 
wainfcoting, is made a ploughboy's 
lumber-room, filled with agricultural im- 
plements, ploughs, fpades, facks, barrows, 
and rakes.* The accompanying drawing 
of Ockwells has been given in order to 
prefent a faithful reprefentation of a 
" great houfe, built of wood and timber," 
of the time of Henry VII. It is only to 

be 



* An unfatisfactory hiftory of the houfe, accompanied 
with two admirable drawings of the window referred 
to, will be found in Lyfon's *' Magna Britannica," 
Berkfhire, Bray, parifh of. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 3 

be regarded as a fpecimen of a period, 
from which Sir Hugh Clopton's houfe 
would no doubt differ greatly in detail, 
but with which it would agree in cha- 
racter and effect. 

The lovers of " illuftrated works " 
have been indulged with a plate repre- 
fenting Shakefpere's houfe at New Place ; 
but a drawing of a caftle in the air 
would have been equally authoritative and 
correct. This is one error concerning 
New Place that needs to be exploded. 
No authentic reprefentation of it exifts. 
When Dugdale ufes the words "brick 
" and timber," and tells us that the houfe 
was built in the reign of Henry VII., 
any one who has vifited Coventry, Chefter, 
Shrewfbury, or the " Mint" at Briftol, 
will be able, in his mind's eye, to picture 
the general appearance of Shakefpere's 
houfe, with its multiplied gables, its over- 
hanging eaves, its barge-boards, enriched 

with 



14 New Place, 



with the Tudor flower-ornament (as at 
the Coventry Almfhoufe), its projecting 
windows, its ftrong framework of crofs- 
beamed, black, old Englifh oak forming 
the ribs or fkeleton of the houfe, the inter- 
vening fquares built in with brick (pro- 
bably plaftered over and whitewafhed), 
its wooden porchway, open-arcaded, with 
a room above, whofe oriel windows dis- 
played the falcon and tilting fpear. 

Of that houfe, which Sir Hugh Clop- 
ton built, and in which Shakelpere fub- 
fequently lived and died, not a veftige 
remained but yefterday. Like the infub- 
ftantial pageant (of the Poet's play), not a 
rack was left behind, as far as any living 
man could tell. 

Shakefpere's Barn may, in a certain 
fenfe, be faid to have exifted up to 1861. 
In that year a couple of cottages occu- 
pying that portion of New Place garden 
which adjoins the theatre on the weft, 

were 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 5 

were taken down, having, in the firft 
inftance, been photographed, and then 
ftripped to the framework of which they 
were constructed. Thefe cottages had 
been contrived by fubdividing the ancient 
barn belonging to Shakeipere. On re- 
moving the thatch, the lath and platter 
work from between the beams, and re- 
ducing the building to its fkeleton ftruc- 
ture, it was found that, in the lapfe of 
two centuries and a half, all the timbers 
of the barn had, from time to time, been 
replaced, with the exception of fome three 
or four (mall beams. Thefe were the fole 
remains of the Poet's Barn. 

The recent purchafe of New Place 
led to a feries of excavations, and the 
difcoveries which have refulted, (though 
not very extenfive.) are extremely inte- 
refting, and definitely fettle feveral points 
which, heretofore, have been fubjecls of 
furmife and fpeculation. 

The 



1 6 New Place, 



The leading facts regarding New Place 

are thefe : 

i ft. New Place was built by Sir Hugh 
Clopton, temp, Henry VII., circ. 
1490. He died in London, 1496, 
and being a bachelor, devifed it to 
his great-nephew, William Clopton, 
who died in 1521. 

2nd. From the Clopton family it paffed by 
purchafe to the family of Bott, in the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1563.* 

3rd. By Willian Bott it was refold to 
Wm. Underhill, within a fhort ipace 
of time, between 1563 and 1570.*!* 

4th. William Shakeipere purchafed from 
the Underhill family, for £60, New 
Place, confifting of " one merTuage, 
u two barns, and two gardens, with 
" their appurtenances," during the 
Eafter Term of 1597, in the 39th 
year of the reign of Queen Eliza- 
beth, 

* Appendix A. f Appendix B. 



Stratford-upon - Avon. 1 7 

beth, and the year after his only fon, 
Hamnet, had died. By him it was 
repaired, renovated, and fitted up for 
his permanent refidence. 
5th. March, 161 6. Shakefpere made his 
will, leaving it to his daughter, 
Mrs. Hall, for life ; after her, to her 
daughter. The month following, 
April 23, 1616, his reputed birth- 
day, he died in this houfe, and was 
buried two days later, on the 25th, 
in the 53 rd year of his age. 
It was a happy accident that the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth had begun before the 
birth of the Poet, otherwife this country 
would have loft the moft valuable records 
regarding him. As foon as the Queen 
afcended the throne, the regiftries of the 
parifh churches were carefully kept. 
The Regifter-book of Stratford Church 
contains entries both of the baptifm and 
the funeral of Shakefpere. 

-1564, 



New Place, 



"1564, April 26. Gulielmus, Filius 
" Johannes Shakfpere." But this merely 
records his baptifm, and not the date of 
birth, which baptifmal regifters have never 
done, and even now do not, although the 
value of fuch entries is apparent. 

The entry of the funeral runs thus : — 
1616, "April 25, Will. Shakfpeare, Gent." 
6th. Mrs. Hall fucceeded to the pro- 
perty, and from her it paffed to her 
daughter Elizabeth, Lady Barnard. 
7th. Lady Barnard (Shakefpere's grand- 
daughter) according to an indenture 
dated 20th October, 1652, cove- 
nanted that New Place fhouy. be 
had to the ufe of herfelf and her 
hufband, John Barnard, during their 
natural lives, and in default of iffue, 
mould be left to the ufe of fuch 
perfon or perfons as fhe fhould limit 
or appoint. Lady Barnard executed 
a will, 29th January, 1669, whereby 

New 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 9 

New Place was left to Sir John 
Barnard for his life, and to the ufe of 
his executors for fix months after his 
death. Lady Barnard died a few 
days afterwards, and was buried at 
Abington, February 17th, 1669. 
Her will was proved 4th March, 
1669. The property continued in 
the porTeflion of Sir John until his 
death in 1673 ; fubfequent to which, 
according to the provifions of the 
aforefaid will, New Place was fold. 
An indenture, dated 1 8th May, 
1675, conveyed it "to bee and 
" enure to the only ufe and behoofe 
" of Sir Edward Walker, Knt., 
" Garter Principall King at Armes," 
w T ho completed the purchafe for the 
fum of £1,060.* He died, as the 
monument in Stratford Church ftates, 
the following year — February, 1676. 

8th. 

* Appendix C 



J 



2o New Place, 



8 th. The only child of Sir Edward 
Walker, Barbara,* married Sir John 

Clopton, 



* A native poet of Stratford, by name John Jordan, 
and by trade a wheelwright, publifhed in 1777 a poem 
entitled " Welcombe Hills" (which are in the neigh- 
bourhood of Stratford). In allufion to one of the 
Clopton marriages — that of Edward (the iffiie of the 
above Sir John and Barbara his wife) with Martha 
Combe, the laft perfon of note of the family of John a 
Combe (Shakefpere's friend) — the poet exclaims : — 

» 

" Till a late failure, in the iffiie male, 
Turrid, though unprejudiced, the lineal fcale, 
An heirefs Combe, right well to he ally d, 
Became the heir of neighboring Clopton s bride." 

As Mrs. Partheriche, the defcendant of this alliance, 
will be alluded to, the marriages are here fubjoined, 
though the Pedigree of Clopton, in extenfo, will be 
found elfewhere. 

Sir Edward Walker. 

Barbara Walker = Sir John Clopton. 

Edward Clopton = Martha Combe, last of the line 
I of John a Combe. 

Edward Clopton = Martha, d. of Thomas Middleton, 
Esq., of Mundham, Surrey. 
1 a 3 4 5 6 I 7 

I I I I I I I 

Children Frances Clopton, = John Partheriche, Esq. 

deceased the last of her 

while young. family. She sur- 

vived her husband. 
D. 1793. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 2 1 

Clopton, of Clopton, in the parifh 
of Stratford, and thus New Place 
returned again into the Clopton 
family. Sir John deceafed, April 
18, 1 71 9. By him New Place 
was bequeathed 

9th. To his younger fon, Sir Hugh 
Clopton, of the Middle Temple, 
one of the Heralds of the Col- 
lege of Arms, and Recorder of 
Stratford. 

10th. Sir Hugh Clopton pulled down 
New Place, entirely rebuilt it, and 
died in the new New Place, 175 1, 
aged 80. — Temp. George II. 

nth. Sir Hugh's fon-in-law and exe- 
cutor Henry Talbot (brother of the 
Chancellor Talbot), fold it to the 
Rev. Francis Gaftrell, 1753. 

1 2th. Gaftrell deftroyed the modern 
houfe, and razed it to the ground, 
in 1759. 

13th. 



22 New Place, 



13th. The fubfequent hiftory of New 
Place — 1775 to 1862 — may be told 
in a few words. Mrs. Gaftrell fold 
the property to W. Hunt,* Efq., of 
Stratford, in 1775. 

14th. The truftees under the will of W. 
Hunt, on the 29th Sept., 1790, fold 
to Charles Henry Hunt,"f* Efq., who 
fubfequently purchafed of Fanny 
Mortiboys, ipinfter, the adjoining 
houfe, now known as " Name's 
" Houfe." + 

15 th. The affignees of C. H. Hunt, on 
the 15 th May, 1807, conveyed the 
whole of the property defcribed 

upon 



* Grandfather of W. O. Hunt, Efq., the prefent 
Town-clerk of Stratford. He was a promoter of the 
Jubilee of 1769. Garrick correfponded with him. 

f The fecond fon of the aforefaid W. Hunt. 

% It is only during the prefent year that it has been 
afcertained that this houfe belonged to Thomas Naihe, 
who married Shakefpere's grand-daughter, Elizabeth 
Hall. 



Stratford-npo7i-A r con. 23 

upon the Ground Plan as "New 
u Place/' including that now occu- 
pied by the " Theatre/' to Edmund 
Batterfhee and William George 
Morris, Efqs., Bankers. 
1 6th. In January, 1829, the heir-at-law 
of E. Batterfhee, and the affignees of 
W. G. Morris, fold off the property 
in lots, 

A — including Name's houfe, was pur- 
chafed by Mifs Lucy Smith. 

B — the Cottages formed out of Shake- 
fpere's Barn, were purchafed, the one 
by Michael Prentice, the other by 
Thomas Webb. 

C — the Great Garden (now a Bowling 
Green), including the ground now 
occupied by the Theatre, was pur- 
chafed by Edward Ley ton. 

D — is a ftrip of land which formerly 
belonged to the Clifford Charity, and 

was 



24 New Place, 



was acquired by an exchange effected 
by Mr. Gaftrell. It never belonged 
to the Great Garden in Shakefpere's 
time, though it has continued a part 
of it fince Mr. Gaftrell acquired it. 

E — is a ftrip of Garden at the back of 
Name's houfe, which always belonged 
to Name's houfe until 1790, when it 
was purchafed by C. H. Hunt, and 
became an integral part of lot A, of 
which it has ever fince continued a 
part. 

F — is the ruins of foundations lately 
uncovered, in which is identified a 
fmall portion of Sir Hugh Clopton's 
" Great Houfe " of New Place, and a 
much larger portion of the fecond 
houfe, built about 1720 (paragraph 10). 

17th. In 1834, the faid Edward Leyton 
purchafed Webb's cottage, and in 
1838 he alfo purchafed Prentice's; 

fo 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 25 

fo that he became porTeffor of the 
whole of the two lots B and C. 

1 8th. On the 23rd of January, 1836, 
the truftees of the above-mentioned 
Lucy Smith, under her will, fold the 
lot A to Mr. David Rice, Surgeon. 
Some time about this period, be- 
tween 1836 and 1844, Edward 
Leyton fold that portion of the 
Great Garden whereon the Theatre 
now ftands, for the erection of that 
moft hideous ftructure. By the 
knowledge of this fact, the reader 
will fee what amount of " vene- 
" ration " a flaring brick building, 
raifed lefs than thirty years ago, can 
claim from the public. 

19th. In July, 1844, the only daughter 
and child of Edward Leyton, con- 
tracted marriage with Chas. Frederic 
Loggin. Mr. Leyton then fettled 
the whole of the remainder of lots 

B and C 



26 New Place, 



B and C to himfelf for life, to his 
wife after him for her life, and after 
her, to his daughter, under truftees, 
for her life, giving them power to fell. 
20th. We are thus brought down to the 
prefent period, and to the laft fales 
that will ever occur upon the New 
Place eftate. 

A was purchafed by Mr. Halli- 
well, by private contract, of the 
truftees under the will of the above- 
named furgeon, Mr. Rice, for the 
fum of £1,200. It was conveyed 
21ft March, 1862. 

B and C were purchafed by Mr. 

Halliwell, by private contract, of the 

truftees under the fettlement of Mr. 

Loggin, for £2,000. They were 

conveyed February 8, 1862. 

Accordingly, there ftill remains to be 

purchafed that piece of ground whereon 

the theatre ftands, fold off from the 

Great 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 27 

Great Garden a few years ago. This 
" theatre " (fo called) belongs, at the pre- 
fent moment, to a body of ihareholders, 
who are prepared to fell their rights — the 
ground, buildings, &c. — for £1,100. 
No doubt this purchafe will, at no diftant 
period, be made ; and then the whole 
New Place property will belong to the 
public, vefted in the corporation of Strat- 
ford, to be preferved by them for ever, 
for the contemplation and enjoyment of 
the Engliih people. 

The above detailed facts have been 
arranged in paragraphs, fo that the reader 
may, with greater eafe, carry in memory 
the changes and chances to which New 
Place has been fubjected. 

The familiar entries in the church 
books of Stratford regarding Shakefpere's 
baptifm and burial having been given, it 
will render the fubjecl: more complete if 

the 



28 New Place, 



the principal fafts regarding his marriage, 
and the iffue of that marriage, are added 
in this place; for it can fcarcely be 
doubted that Shakefpere purchafed New- 
Place in order to provide a home for his 
wife and children during his long abfences 
in London — a home which he laboured 
hard to fuftain — a home to which he 
always retired when the feafons of tem- 
porary repofe arrived; when, being fet 
free from the mental and phyfical ex- 
ertions neceffary to carry on the bufinefs 
of Blackfriars and the Globe Theatre, he 
could enjoy (as he ever loved to do) the 
fweet affociations of that home, and the 
delights of the Garden of England — the 
luxuriant valley of the Avon. 

Numberlefs efforts have been made to 
difcover the regiftry of Shakefpere's wed- 
ding. Up to the prefent time, all fuch 
efforts have proved vain. The proba- 
bility — almoft the certainty — is, that it 

has 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 29 

has long fmce perifhed. His marriage 
bond and licenfe (bearing date 1582) 
are preferved at Worcefter among the 
archives of the diocefe. They run 
thus : — 

" Noverint univerli per prefentes nos 
" ffulconem Sandells de Stratford in comi- 
" tatu Warwici agricolam, et Johannem 
" Rychardfon ibidem agricolam, teneri 
" et firmiter obligari Ricardo Cofin gene- 
" rofo et Roberto Warmftry notario pub- 
u lico in quadraginta libris bonce et 
" legalis monetoe Anglioe folvend, eifdem 
" Ricardo et Roberto hoered. execut. vel. 
" affignat fuis, ad quam quidem folu- 
" cionem bene et fideliter faciend, obli- 
" gamus nos, et utrumque noftrum per 
" fe pro toto et in folice hoered, executor 
" et adminiftrator, noftros firmiter, per 
" proefentes figillis noftris figillit. Dat. 
"28 die Novem. anno regni Domince 
" noftras, Eliz. Dei gratia Angliae, Ffrancas, 

"et 



30 New Place, 



" et Hiberniae Reginae, Fidei Defenfor, 
"&c, 25 ." 

" The condicion of this obligacion ys 
" fuche, that if hereafter there {hall not 
" appere any lawfull lett or impediment 
" by reafon of any precontract, confan- 
" guitie, affinitie, or by any other lawfull 
" meanes whatfoever, but that William 
" Shagfpere one thone partie, and Ann 
" Hathwey, of Stratford, in the dioces of 
" Worcefter, maiden, may lawfully folem- 
" nize matrimony together, and in the 
" fame afterwardes remaine and continew 
" like man and wiffe, according unto the 
" lawes in that behalf provided ; and, 
" moreover, if there be not at this 
" prefent time any action, fute, quarrell, 
" or demaund, moved or depending before 
"any judge, ecclefiaflicall or temporall, 
" for and concerning any fuche lawfull 
" lett or impediment ; and, moreover, if 

"the 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 3 1 

" the faid William Shagfpere do not pro- 
" ceed to folemnizacion of mariadg with 
" the faid Ann Hathwey without the 
" confent of his frindes ; and alfo if the 
" faid William do, upon his own proper 
" coftes and expenfes, defend and fave 
" harmles, the Right Reverend Father in 
" God, Lord John, Bufhop of Worcefter, 
" and his offycers, for licencing them the 
" faid William and Ann to be maried 
" together with once alking of the bannes 
" of matrimony betwene them, and for 
" all other caufes which may enfue by 
" reafon or occaiion thereof, that then 
" the faid obligacion to be voyd and of 
" none effect, or els to ftand and abide in 
" full force and vertue." 

Here follow the fignatures, or marks, 
of the witneffes ; the firft refembling the 
attempt that an aged perfon would make 
to draw a triangle ; the fecond being a 
clumfy letter C. Two feals are added: 

the 



32 New Place, 



the one is defaced, the other bears the 
impreffion " R. H." Who was " R. H.?" 
Could this be the feal of the bride's 
father, Richard Hathaway? and inftead 
of the licenfe being procured in fecrefy, 
as Mr. Collier has fuggefted, may it not 
have been granted with the full know- 
ledge and confent of Richard Hathaway ? 
Even fuppofing that there might be truth 
in the view which De Quincey and Mr. 
Collier have taken of this marriage — that 
it was accomplifhed hurriedly and fecretly 
— fuch an argument would ftrengthen the 
fuppoiition that " R. H." was the bride's 
father, and that he had accompanied 
Shakefpere to Worcefter, in order to fee 
that the licenfe was duly fecured. Such 
a fuppoiition would be moft natural if 
there was any ground for fcandal, which 
many perfons have mown a fingular fancy 
for infinuating. The " mature young 
" woman, five years paft her maturity," 

being 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 3 3 



being " led aftray by the boy with two 
* and a half years to run of his minority, 5 ' 
is objectionable to De Quincey's contem- 
plation. Perhaps the idea is more abfurd 
than objectionable. 

The evidence of " legal documents" — 
" a ftory fo fignificant and fo eloquent to 
" the intelligent," — certainly mows that 
Shakefpere procured his licenfe, 28th 
November, 1582, and that his firft child, 
Sufannah, was baptifed the following 
26th May, 1583. But what then ? Did 
the mature young woman lead the boy 
aftray; and did the indignant R. H., on 
difcovering the truth, infift upon an im- 
mediate marriage, to hide his child's 
difgrace ? 

This would be one way of explaining 
the procuring of the licenfe ; and there 
might then be great fignincance in the 
feal of " R. H." appended to the bond ! 

It has been conclufively ihown, from 

the 



34 New Place, 



the very regifters of Stratford, that mar- 
riages, with the fame " fignificance of 
" dates " between the church ceremony 
and the baptifm of the eldeft child, were 
cuftomary at Stratford. 

It has alfo been mown, that they were 
cuftomary in England, and on the conti- 
nent ; and before any fcandal was hinted 
at, as to the purity of the " mature young 
" woman," it would have been well for 
the marriage cuftoms of the age, and of 
people in Shakefpere's rank of life, to 
have been carefully ftudied. Even in 
this nineteenth century, there are ruftic 
parts of northern England, in which the 
fnort of the iron-horfe has never been 
heard, where fuch primitive cuftoms ftill 
furvive, and contracts of marriage are 
made precifely as they were in Shake- 
fpere's day. 

In fuch bucolic, or, as they might 
be called, " uncivilifed " parts, marriage 

is 



Stratford-upon-Avott. 35 

is " honourable among all men," and 
as duly celebrated as the contract is 
made. 

" Is it a cufiom. 9 
Ay, marry, is '/." 

It is difficult to underftand how a youth 
of Shakefpere's age, and of his difpofition, 
could be fufpedted of fecretly and fud- 
denly binding, " in the prayers of holy 
" church," a connection that he had 
formed fhamefully. Reverence for the 
memory of fo great a moralift, and fo 
warm a champion of female purity and 
innocence, mould prompt every examiner 
of his life and adts, to compare thofe adls 
with the habits and cuftoms of the days 
in which he lived. Knowing what were 
the marriage cuftoms common among 
the folk with whom the poet was early 
afTociated, and feeing that his marriage 
was in accordance with their habits, it is 
molt natural, and certainly moft charit- 
able, 



36 New Place, 



able, to fuppofe that friends like John 
Shakefpere and Richard Hathaway mould 
be well pleafed for their families to 
be connected in marriage. That Ann 
Hathaway was older than William Shake- 
fpere might be her misfortune, but was 
not her fault. The " mature young 
" woman" could not help herfelf; and 
poffibly fhe may have been kept under 
her father's roof, denied to the fwains 
of Shottery, waiting until fuch time as 
young William Shakefpere could, with 
any propriety, marry. At length the 
heads of houfes agreed that they might 
be contracted ; there was a pleafant trip 
to Worcefter for the licenfe ; " R. H." went 
to fee that everything was done duly and 
in order; William and Ann were mar- 
ried, — and, it is to be hoped, " they lived 
" happily ever after." 

We are indebted to the antiquarian, 
Sir Robert Philipps, for difcovering the 

bond 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 37 

bond and licenfe in 1836, in the Confif- 
torial Court of Worcefter. In the original 
it is full of legal abbreviations, as given in 
Mr. Knight's Biography. For the fake 
of fimplicity, the full text, as rendered 
by Mr. Halliwell, has been adopted 
above. 

The probability is, that the ceremony 
of marriage was performed in the Chapel 
of Luddington, a hamlet of the parifh of 
Stratford, at a fhort diftance from Shot- 
tery, the refidence of Ann Hathaway, 
and a place with which the Hathaways 
were connected. The Marquis of Hert- 
ford, to whom Luddington belonged, 
informed Malone that he remembered 
there were tenants of the name of Hath- 
away on the eftate. One, John Hath- 
away, farmed part of the eftate as late as 
1775. It is alfo worthy of note that the 
curate of Luddington was the Rev. 
Thomas Hunt, who was fchoolmafter of 

Stratford 



38 New Place, 



Stratford School when Shakefpere would 
almoft certainly be a pupil there.* If 
the mafter and pupil were good friends, 
the facl: might be a ftrong inducement to 
Shakefpere to be married at Mr. Hunt's 
church. Licenfes granted for the parifh 
of Stratford, would, of courfe, be avail- 
able for all churches and chapels within 
the parifh, at which marriages were 
allowed. Luddington Chapel was taken 
down many years ago, and its regifters 
have either been deftroyed or loft. 

The annexed Pedigree will give all 
neceffary particulars regarding Shake- 
fpere's family, his marriage, and his 
iffue. Writers upon this fubjecl: have 
commonly ftated the marriages and de- 
fcents in the ordinary letterprefs of their 
works, which, in fuch matters, is con- 

fufing. 



* Mailers of the School : — 1570, Walter Roche ; 
1572 to 1577, Thomas Hunt (buried at Stratford, 
April 12, 1612)5 1580, Thomas Jenkins. 



E, or ARD 

igree of Arden, gij 
traces fro 



ohert Arclerne. 
VI. about 1484. 

A^ed 26. 
Alive in 1484. 

Robert A 
Groom of th 
toH. V 
Born about 
Obtained a Gi 
17th year. 
Married in hi 



Bal 1 

As Anne, 

hur B. Au?. 9, 170 

^t; Buried Feb. 5, 1 

B. 



I 



Will. Marv. 

Cat. Buried April 28, 1 745. B. Oct. 7, 1 7«>9- 
:y. j 1746. Bap. Nl 

[6i( 

17. 

Ann. 
. Sept. 29, I740i 

jinn. 
Bap. An. 16, 1767* 

1 th 



38 New Place, 



Stratford School when Shakelpere would 
almoft certainly be a pupil there.* If 
the matter and pupil were good friends, 
the fact might be a ftrong inducement to 
Shakefpere to be married at Mr. Hunt's 
church. Licenfes granted for the parifh 
of Stratford, would, of courfe, be avail- 
able for all churches and chapels within 
the parifh, at which marriages were 
allowed. Luddington Chapel was taken 
down many years ago, and its regifters 
have either been deftroyed or loft. 

The annexed Pedigree will give all 
neceffary particulars regarding Shake- 
Ipere's family, his marriage, and his 
iffue. Writers upon this fubject have 
commonly ftated the marriages and de- 
fcents in the ordinary letterprefs of their 
works, which, in fuch matters, is con- 

fufing. 



* Matters of the School : — 1570, Walter Roche ; 
1572 to 1577, Thomas Hunt (buried at Stratford, 
April 12, 1612); 1580, Thomas Jenkins. 



THE PEDIGREE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPERE. 



(COMPILED BY J. C. M. I 



ARDERNE, 0R ARDEN. 






7L^ 






SHAKESPERE. 









_i 






:,'V 1 L |I, I < ,: „ 



n r 



E.kyns. Joan. „ I 



HATHAWAY. 



■. ,„ M il,-,«.,v, ■ Willi \M Mi \K1 S 











B. 


, t clSep,.7,. S 8.. 


yi?p.i,«J wj£ .he 




',' '„!' A'i ,',', 




-li^- 








^ ? s 


,:.,',: :jg 


XgL 






G ™ HMirlfdbM. 

iM'-'b -1 ' IlljAiIj'ii'lt, 


Mil,,. 
fl. Sept. >],!«»>. 




SSJ** *.«."• " N :«!:' s ' " A " r " 16 -" 88 - ',. 


M*£„ 


,",;''ii 1 ,'„;i 






-^SsyfejS b .a.4% m! 




JSyi, <""». 


.. 




3T.W-B 


,,s:r-.-., ' 




I 




Thimw. 




"■ s.pt n »i, 





Stratford-upon-Avon. 39 

filling. Where a Pedigree is fet out, the 
eye inftructs the memory much more 
eafily and directly, and for this reafon the 
prefent method has been adopted. 

Allufion has been made to a popular 
error regarding Shakefpere's reiidence. 
Paragraph 10 (p. 21) ftates that the 
houfe in which he lived was pulled 
down at the commencement of the laft 
century. Any reprefentation of that 
houfe, to be authentic, muft therefore 
bear date previous to 1 719. No fuch 
plate or picture exifts, and there is no 
evidence of any fuch having exifted. In 
order to fatisfy public curiofity, two were 
invented ; the one published by Malone, 
the other by Samuel Ireland, father of the 
notorious forger of Vortigern and other 
Shakefperian MSS. Malone's picture was 
a draft upon imagination, drawn by John 
Jordan, of Stratford, to whom reference 
has been made. Jordan was perfectly 

prepared, 



40 New Place, 



prepared, for a confideration, to invent or 
compofe, or make himfelf generally ufeful. 
In firft publifhing Jordan's reprefentation 
of New Place, Malone accompanied the 
drawing with this title, giving it a place 
in his book, but preferving a complete 
lilence himfelf as to the value or authen- 
ticity of the drawing : — 

" New Place, from a drawing in the 
" margin of an ancient furvey, made by 
" order of Sir George Carew, (afterwards 
" Baron Carew of Clop ton, and Earl of 
" Totnefs,) and found at Clopton, near 
" Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1786." 

Jordan fubfequently conferTed that he 
had invented the porch of the houfe; 
and Malone himfelf approved of his add- 
ing Shakefpere's arms, becaufe " they were 
" very likely to have been there ;" fuggeft- 
ing, at the fame time, "neat wooden 
" pales, which might be placed with pro- 
" priety before the houfe." Ireland, in 

his 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 4 1 

his work upon the Avon, produced an 
engraving of the houfe, which he boldly 
afferted was authentic, and taken from a 
drawing in the poffeflion of Mrs. Par- 
theriche, of Clopton Houfe, the laft of 
the Clopton family, 'which drawing, how- 
ever, had unfortunately been dejlroyed ! 
His words are as follows : — 

" I have taken the liberty of giving a 
" view of the houfe as it ftood at the 
" time he reiided there, which he did 
" from the period of his quitting London 
" till his death. The view is copied 
" from an old drawing of one Robert 
" Trefwells, made in 1599, by order of 
" Sir George Carew, afterwards Baron 
" Carew of Clopton, and Earl of Totnefs. 
" It was found in Clopton Houfe in 
" 1786, and was in the poffeflion of the 
" late Mrs. Patriche, who was the laft of 
" the antient family of the Clopton's. 
"The drawing, I am informed, is fince 

"loft 



42 New Place, 



" loft or deftroyed." Whether deftroyed 
before Ireland made his copy, he omits to 
mention ; but it is of no particular con- 
fequence, as the impudent attempt at 
impofition betrays itfelf. 

In the ftatements fet forth by Malone 
and by Ireland, it is impoffible to over- 
look thefe facts : they both affert that the 
drawing was found in the year 1786, 
and they both ufe the identical words, 
"made by order of Sir George Carew, 
" afterwards Baron Carew of Clop ton, 
" and Earl of Totnefs." 

Three improvements of the ftory are 
introduced by Ireland, who favours us 
with the extra information that the draw- 
ing was made by one Robert Trefwells ; 
that it was made in 1599, and that it was 
in the pofTeffion of Mrs. Partheriche, the 
laft of the Cloptons. Defpite thefe addi- 
tional baits to beguile the public, and give 
the ftory an increafed air of truth, it is im- 
poffible 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 43 

poffible to avoid the impreffion that Ire- 
land was pirating Jordan's invention ; and 
that while he was pointing a moral for 
future writers, he was adorning a tale at 
the moment to anfwer his own purpofes. 
On comparing the drawings given by 
Malone and by Ireland, it is palpable that 
the one is a very slightly altered copy of 
the other, or that they are both copies 
of fome third drawing. If a third — 
poffibly genuine — drawing had exifted, 
fuch as Malone afferted, and Ireland re- 
aiTerted, did exift, executed at the inftance 
of Baron Carew, it is evident that fuch 
drawing would not have exhibited a 
porch of Wren's era {temp. Charles II.) 
ftuck in front of a drawing made in 
1599 [temp. Elizabeth). But we have 
Jordan's confeffion that " he added the 
" porch." A genuine drawing, therefore, 
in the pofTeffion of Mrs. Partheriche, 
would have been minus the porch which 

Jordan 



44 New Place, 



Jordan added, and minus the arms upon 
that porch, which Malone approved, be- 
caufe " they were very likely to have been 
" there." What fhall be thought, then, 
of Ireland's picture, which prefents to us 
the confeffed impofition practifed by 
Jordan, and improved upon by Malone ? 

There can be very little doubt that 
Ireland took Malone's drawing, added 
barge-boards to it, and reproduced it as 
copied from an original at Clopton Houfe. 

Two queftions of intereft ftill remain 
to be afked. Did any fuch drawing ever 
exift on the margin of a furvey ? If fuch 
did not exift, how came it that Malone 
lent himfelf to the impudent invention of 
Jordan, and publifhed it as genuine, 
knowing that in fome refpedts Jordan had 
"improved" it? 

It is hard to believe that any fuch 
drawing exifted — certainly not as defcribed 
by Malone, on the authority of Jordan — 

becaufe 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 45 

becaufe a furvey of his property, made by 
Lord Carew in 1599, would not be a 
furvey of other people's eftates. Lord 
Carew was contemporary with Shake- 
fpere, and might have known that New 
Place belonged to him two years prior to 
the making of the furvey — if fuch were 
ever made. But whether his lordfhip 
knew this or not, it is moft certain that 
his furveyors, in making plans and draw- 
ings of his eftate and the tenements upon 
it, would not introduce in the " margin 
"of their furvey" a houfe which, at leaft 
thirty-fix years previoufly, had been fold 
out of the Clopton family. When it is 
remembered who and what the "Poet 
"Jordan" was, and how ready he was to 
perpetrate any impofition upon the public, 
it feems moft probable that he invented 
the " margin of the furvey made by order 
"of Baron Carew," in order to impofe upon 
Malone, particularly as the exiftence of 

fuch 



46 New Place, 



fuch a furvey or plan of a nobleman's 
eftate was moft likely to exift. 

But was Malone impofed upon ? Did 
he believe Jordan's ftatement, and regard 
the drawing as a genuine copy of an ori- 
ginal reprefentation of Shakefpere's houfe ? 

Malone may have been predifpofed to 
be deceived ; he may have received the 
drawing with credence at firft, as Wal- 
pole did Chatterton's records of ancient 
painters ; but when Jordan got to im- 
proving the houfe, and adorning it with 
very probable coats-of-arms, it is hard to 
believe that Malone's faith was blind 
and unfufpeffing ; while it feems ftill 
harder to condemn him as particeps 
criminis in an attempt to pafs off upon 
the public, as a "great" Gothic houfe of 
the time of Henry VIL, renovated in the 
time of Queen Elizabeth (when houfes 
were ftill built in exactly the fame ftyle 
and manner — the only difference being in 

the 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 47 

the "debafed" details of ornamentation, 
pinnacles, tracery, &c), a drawing which 
only needs to be glanced at, and it is 
inftantly felf-condemned. 

A fac-fimile of this drawing will be 
found in Knight's " Biography of Shake- 
fpere" (note on New Place, p. 501). It 
has been repeatedly copied and prefented 
to the public, fo that it feems unnecefTary 
to give it one more " laft appearance" in 
this place. It and the drawing given 
by Ireland may be called arcades ambo. 
The plate on the oppofite page, which 
accurately reproduces Ireland's, may fafely 
be regarded as twin-brother to the Jordan- 
Malone picture, the details being the fame 
in both, with the fingle variation already 
noticed. The barge-boards, as feen in 
the accompanying plate, which Ireland 
furbifhed up and added to the foiled im- 
position of Jordan, may well be compared 
to the fwaggering attempt of a gentleman, 

out 



New Place, 



out at elbows and deftitute of a change of 
linen, who feeks to impofe upon the public 
by mounting a clean collar on a mani- 
feftly dirty lhirt. 

The reader has only to examine and 
compare this picture with the picture of 
Ockwells to perceive, that though it might 
pafs mufter for the " oyfter-fhell " Gothic 
of Horace Walpole's fancy, it is as unlike 
the genuine domeftic architecture either 
of Henry VII. 's reign, or the "debafed" 
of Queen Elizabeth's, as Walpole's lath 
and plafter toy-fhop at Strawberry Hill 
was a baftard imitation of the ftyle he 
pretended to affect.* It will be obferved 
that the " timber and brick " defcribed 
by 

* The following letter, written by Horace Walpole, 
and now among the family papers of the Lord's Dacre, 
at Belhus, EfTex, has never been made public. It has 
been kindly placed at the difpofal of the author by 
Sir Thomas Barrett Lennard, Bart., and will be read 
with intereft, both as difplaying the fycophantilh ftyle 
in which Walpole addreffed his fuperiors, and alfo his 
architectural taite : — 

[" Strawberry 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 49 

by Dugdale have altogether vanished in 
Ireland's reprefentation, and that a fiat, 
palteboard-like uniformity of frontage is 
prefented, in every refpect oppofite to the 
character of true Gothic architecture, in 
which the lines are invariably broken up 
by 

"Strawberry Hill, July nth, 1777. 
" I cannot receive joy from Bellhoufe, my dear Lord, 
" without giving it, and without telling your Lordfhip 
"how particularly kind I took it from Mr. Hardinge, 
" in acquainting me with his intended marriage, — I had 
" no right to expett fuch attention, but by my zealous 
" wilhes for his happinefs. When anybody that is 
" perfecUy content, as he feems to be, thinks of making 
" others happy, it is the befl proof of a good heart. 
" When mifery is communicative, it may flow from 
" want of pity, comfort, advice, or afliftance ; but when 
" happinefs is neither infolent nor felfifh, the monitor 
" muft be benevolence. Without including myfelf in 
" this defcription, I enjoy the fatisfa6tion your Lordfhip, 
** Lady Dacre, Mrs. Harding, and Lord Camden mull 
" have, in the felicity of fo deferving a young man. 
" It is talking, too, like an old one, but furely all the 
" riflng young men of the age have not Mr. Harding's 
" good qualities. Your Lordfhip did me the honour 
" of inviting me to Bellhoufe ; it feemed ungrateful 
" not to thank you, and yet gratitude was the true 
" motive of my lilence. I waited till I could tell you 
" that I could accept the honour of your offer. I 
"have had company, and various engagements that 
" prevented me, and am not yet at liberty from the 

" precarious 



50 New Place, 



by gables, dormer windows, porches, and 
deep barge-boards, producing fhadows, 
relief, and infinite variety. Ireland pro- 
duced this wretched drawing in 1814. 
Mrs. Partheriche (concerning whom he 
was fo ignorant that he could not fpell 
her name correctly)* died in 1792. As 

the 



" precarious ftate of H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucefter's 
"health, and from expecting him and the Ducheis in 
" England. 1 

" I was mil more nattered, though very unworthy, 
" by your Lordmip's thinking of confulting me on your 
" improvements at Bellhoufe ; nobody is more attached 
" to the beauty of your feat, nor fhall fee your additions 
" with more pleafure, but I have not the vanity to 
" prefume to dire6t them. You have not only done 
" everything there with tafte, my Lord, but to my tafte 
" of ' ancienne noblelfe ;' and fince cheefemongers can 
" be peers, I would have the manhons of old barons 
" powdered with quarterings for diftinftion ; and lince 
" Mr. Adams builds for fo many of thefe, I wifh he 
" would deviate from his ftyle of Filigraine, and load 
" them with the Tufcan order, which admits very 
" fpeaking columns. " When 

1 His Royal Highnefs had married the Countefs 
Waldegrave, daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, and 
niece to Horace Walpole. 

* See quotation, p. 41. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 5 1 

the fuppofed original picture was unfor- 
tunately deftroyed when in that lady's 
porTeffion, it might feem difficult for any 
ordinary mortal to make a copy of it in 
1 8 14: but difficulties of this fort are 
trifles eafily furmounted when genius, like 
another Jofhua, repeats the marvel of 
Ajalon, and puts back the courfes of time.* 



Difmiffing both Jordan's invention and 
Ireland's impofition, there is another 
matter of error which deferves remark. 
Theobald afferts, that when Shakefpere 

" repaired 

" When I have a day at command, will Lady Dacre 
" and your Lordfhip allow me to make ufe of your 
" permiffion, and wait upon you. I will not take that 
" liberty, however, without aiking if my vifit will be 
et feafonable. I am, my dear Lord, with the truer! 
" regards, 

" Your Lordfhip's moft obt. 

" humble fervant, 

" Horace Walpole." 

* Appendix D. 



52 New Place, 



" repaired and modelled " New Place, he 
gave it that name. This is not the fact. 
In the furvey of 1590 we find the fol- 
lowing entry : — " Villielmus Underhill, 
" gen. tenet, libere quandam domum vo- 
" catam the Newe Place cum pertinentiis 
" per reddit. per annum, xij*/. fed:, cur." 

Conclufive evidence is thus afforded us, 
that years before the Poet had any intereft 
in the property, it was known by the name 
which has ever continued its " houfehold 
" words." Sir Hugh Clopton, who built 
the houfe of New Place, happens to have 
ftyled it in his will "the Great Houfe;" 
and fuch it has been fuppofed was its 
ordinary appellation. It is a fuppofition 
in fearch of a reafon. The phrafe feems 
rather an expreflion on the part of Sir 
Hugh, applied to his manfion as compared 
with the general fize and importance of 
the tenements that furrounded it, than 
the title of the place itfelf. It well de- 
fended 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 5 3 

ferved the honourable defignation ; for 
when Queen Henrietta Maria, at the 
head of 3,000 foot, 1,500 horfe, beiide 
artillery and waggons, marched from 
Newark, in June, 1643 (on her progrefs 
to meet the king at Edge Hill, then pro- 
ceeding to Oxford), and was met at Strat- 
ford by Prince Rupert, me was conducted 
to New Place as the moil commodious 
refidence fitted to receive her Majefty; 
and here fhe fojourned (as we are in- 
formed) " about three weeks." 

Lefs direct, but important evidence of 
the " greatnefs " of New Place is afforded 
us by a confideration of the wealth and 
focial pofltion of Sir Hugh Clopton. 

This Sir Hugh was a member of the 
ancient family of Clopton, of Clopton, in 
the parifh of Stratford (Clopton Houfe 
being about a mile out of Stratford). The 
family name was derived from the manor, 
which had been granted to the Cloptons 

in 



54 New Place, 



in the reign of Henry III., fo that Sir 
Hugh's ancestors had been men of rank 
and importance for at leaft two hundred 
and fifty years previous to his time. Sir 
Hugh became alderman of London, and 
ferved the office of Lord Mayor in the 
feventh year of the reign of Henry VII., 
1492. His name ftill lives frefh and 
green in Stratford ; for out of the abun- 
dance which he amafled as a wool-ftapler 
in London, he not only adorned his native- 
place with the " Great Houfe," but he 
endeavoured to beautify the town itfelf, 
and alfo to benefit it by his charity. In 
the Guild Chapel of the Holy Crofs, ad- 
joining New Place, there is a monument 
which was erected to his memory at the 
requeft of the Corporation of Stratford, 
by that Sir John Clopton, his defcendant, 
whofe marriage with Barbara Walker 
brought back New Place into the Clop- 
ton family. 

The 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 5 5 

The monument tells us of his " pious 
" works, fo many and fo great, that they 
" ought to be had in everlafting remem- 
"brance,eipeciallyby this town and parifh." 

" He built ye (tone bridge over Avon, 
" with ye caufey at ye weft end ; further 
" manifefting his piety to God and love to 
" this place of his nativity (as ye centurion 
" in ye Gofpel did to ye Jewifh nation and 
" religion by building them a ivnagogue), 
" for at his fole charge this beautiful 
" Chappel of ye Holy Trinity was rebuilt, 
" temp. H. VII., and ye crois ile of ye 
" Parifh Church." 

The infcription further relates his cha- 
rities to the poor of Stratford and of 
London: — £100 to poor houfekeepers, 
100 marks on their marriage to twenty 
poor maidens, both in Stratford and Lon- 
don ; making of bridges and highways ; 
founding exhibitions at Oxford and Cam- 
bridge ; leaving money for poor prifoners, 

money 



56 New Place, 



money to hofpitals, to the Mercers' Com- 
pany, and " to ye parfon of ye parifh 
" where he lived " (a wholefome cuftom 
that has Angularly fallen into defuetude). 
After all legacies and expenfes are paid, 
he leaves the relidue of his goods and 
chattels to " repairing decayed churches/' 
" mending bridges and highways," " main- 
" taining poor children at fchool," and in 
portioning " honeft maidens." 

" This charitable Gent, died a Batcheler, 
" 15th Sept., 1496, and was buried in St. 
"Margaret's Church, Lothbury." 

The ancient and beautiful altar-tomb 
among the Clopton monuments in Strat- 
ford Church, without any effigy, but with 
quatrefoil panels, originally fitted with 
armorial bearings in brafs, is moft pro- 
bably erected to his memory, becaufe it 
ftands on the precife fpot where, accord- 
ing to his will, he directed that he mould 
be buried, had he died at Stratford ; and 

alfo 



Stratford-upon-Avon, $j 

alfo becaufe the arms carved in the arch 
above it are thofe of Sir Hugh, difplayed 
with the arms of the Corporation of 
London, of which he was Lord Mayor, 
of the Mercers' Company, and of the Wool 
Staplers, to all which bodies he belonged. 
In corroboration of this probability, 
which might be pretty fafely afferted as 
fact, any vifitor to the Guild Chapel 
may obferve on the face of the porch- 
way, over the arch, a feries of fhields, in 
recefTes. It has been already mown that 
this portion of Holy Crofs — the nave and 
porch — were rebuilt by Sir Hugh Clopton. 
Accordingly, among the fhields we find, 
iimilar to the fhields over the monument in 
the church, the arms of the City of Lon- 
don, the arms of the Wool Staplers, and the 
arms of Clopton, quartered with Cockfield 
(Clopton quartering, a Crofs patee, fitchee 
in the foot ; Cockfield, a lion rampant).* 
The 

* Appendix E. 



58 New Place, 



The quarterings agreeing precifely with 
the difplay in the " Vifitation of Warwick- 
" mire," and therefore fomewhat ftrength- 
ening the affertion of the "Vifitation," 
that the Cloptons and the Cockfields were 
temp. Edward I. two diftinct families, 
and not that Walter de Cockfleld was a 
Clopton, who affumed the furname of 
Cockfield, which name continued in ufe 
down to the time of Sir Hugh Clopton's 
grandfather, temp. Richard II., after which 
it difappeared, and Clopton only was 
ufed. 

In his Survey of London and Weft- 
minfter (under the title " Mercers "), 
Stowe alludes to Sir Hugh, as follows: — 

" Sir Hugh Clopton, all his lifetime a 
" Bathchelaur, Maior, 1492, buried at St. 
"Margaret's in Lothbury, 1496. He 
"dwelt in Lothbury, where long after 
"was the fign of the Wind- Mill ; and 
"where Sir Robert Large, fometime 

" Lord 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 5 9 

" Lord Maior, had lived before.* This 
" man was born at Clopton, in Warwick- 
" mire, a mile from Stratford-upon-Avon, 
" where he builded a fair ftone bridge of 
" eighteen arches, and glazed the chancel 

" windows 



* This Sir Robert Large (Lord Mayor of London 
in 1439, died 1441), was the Mercer to whom Caxton 
was apprenticed when he came to London 'from the 
Weald of Kent. Stowe mows us that Caxton and Sir 
Hugh both lived in the fame houfe in Lothbury, and 
we know they were both members of the Company of 
Mercers. When we remember that Caxton went over 
to Ghent and Bruges in the interefl of the Mercers' 
Company, when the wool trade was fufFering through 
the quarrel between England and Philip the Good of 
Burgundy, and that Sir Hugh Clopton was not only 
the iuccerTor of Sir Robert Large in his houfe and place 
of burmefs, but alfo a difiinguifhed member of the 
Company of Mercers, it feems almoft a certainty that 
Caxton and Sir Hugh muft have been well known to 
one another; and it is poflible, perhaps probable, that by 
Sir Hugh the firil books printed in England, "The Game 
" of Chefs," publifhed 1474, the "Poems of Chaucer," 
"iEfop's Fables," "Reynard the Fox," and others, would 
be taken down to his Great Houfe in Stratford, where 
the wonder and admiration of his neighbours would 
make the walls echo with the name of Caxton, the 
introducer of the invention which, in little more than 
a century later, was to carry forth from that fame houfe 
the immortal thoughts of him, whofe words, winged by 
Caxton's aid, have flown from pole to pole. 






60 New Place, 



"windows of the fame Parifh Church 
" where his arms did ftand. Which, 
" as William Smith, fometime Rouge 
" Dragon, hath obferved, differed much 
" from the coat fet up for him, painted 
"in a target, in the Mercers' Hall, 
"which indeed was the arms of the 
" Cloptons of Suffolk." 

Thefe fadts prefent to the mind one 
of England's worthies, a true Christian 
gentleman in the fulled and beft fenfe of 
the phrafe. It is a matter of furprife that 
a man of fuch excellent parts and charac- 
ter, and fo intimately connected with the 
houfe and place where Shakefpere lived, 
mould be fo much overlooked, as he is, by- 
writers upon Stratford and its antiquities. 

It is not, however, upon his genuine 
nobility of character that we have here 
to dwell ; but upon his tafte, his love 
for art, and his delight in architecture. 
It is fomething more than a fanciful 

idea 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 6 1 

idea for us to believe that the tafte 
of Sir Hugh Ciopton influenced the 
mind of Shakefpere. Inftead of a fancy, 
this feems to be a fact. The "New 
" Place/' which he erected, was deftroyed 
fomewhere about 1720, and no repre- 
fentation of it remains to portray it to 
us ; but one piece of building, within a 
dozen yards of the fpot where it flood, is 
indicative of Sir Hugh's tafte. The nave 
of the Guild Chapel was rebuilt by 
him, at precifely the fame period that 
Dean BalfTiall (then Vicar of Stratford), 
was rebuilding the chancel of the 
Parim Church, to which it is clear 
that Sir Hugh generoufly contributed. 
Stowe informs us that the perpen- 
dicular tracery of the windows in this 
chancel was filled with ftained glafs, at 
the expenfe of Sir Hugh Ciopton, whofe 
arms Dugdale faw emblazoned upon 
the glafs. There can be no difficulty 

in 



62 New Place, 



in conjecturing what fort of reiidence 
" New Place " muft have been — how 
architecturally correct — how excellent in 
proportion — how artiftic in defign — how 
pure in the flyle and detail of its ornamen- 
tation — how deferving of its mailer's de- 
fignating it the " Great Houfe " of Strat- 
ford, when we refer to his will, and com- 
pare its Special pro virions for the repairing 
of churches, the building of bridges, the 
construction of highways, with the work 
that he did himfelf accomplish in erecting 
Stratford Bridge, building the nave of the 
Holy Crofs Chapel, and aiding in the 
erection of the chancel of the Parifh 
Church. Thofe portions of the Stratford 
churches, in which Sir Hugh was inter- 
ested, are, even amidft the lavish richnefs 
of ecclefiaftical architecture in Warwick- 
shire, juftly reckoned fuperb fpecimens 
of the Perpendicular period. 

Of " New Place " Shakefpere became 

the 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 63 

the lord and mafter in 1597. The houfe 
was then rather more than one hun- 
dred years old. It would need to be 
" repaired and modelled/' particularly 
as it had belonged to three refpeclive 
families within the half century before 
Shakefpere purchafed it, and had paffed 
out of the Clopton family about a year 
prior to his birth. Of the repairs that 
he made, we know nothing ; but it is 
eafy to underftand how much his mind 
may have been impreffed with the ftately 
beauty of New Place from his earlier! 
childhood. No inhabitant of Stratford, 
feeing Sir Hugh's " Great Houfe " and 
the church that he alfo rebuilt alongfide 
it, could fail to know them and to admire 
them, much lefs a boy of Shakefpere's 
obfervation and appreciative mind. New 
Place adjoins the Guild Chapel and the 
Grammar School. There the boy was 
taught ; and day by day, as he went 

bounding 



64 New Place, 



bounding forth from school, the firft 
object that met his view was Sir Hugh's 
houfe, next the church. While yet a 
child of between three and four years of 
age, a fale took place. He may, on the 
very day of the fale, have been holding 
to his nurfe's fide, and making his earlieft 
obfervations upon men and things, as he 
parTed the chapel of Holy Crofs, and 
have feen the family of Underhill arrive 
to acquire poffeffion of " New Place." 
All this is perfectly poffible ; and if 
this or anything fimilar occurred, it 
might imprefs upon the boy's thoughts 
that New Place had been fold ! Might it 
not again ? Who can tell, whether in his 
early days the boy Shakefpere's mind had 
not been taught by old Sir Hugh's tafte 
to appreciate and admire the beautiful in 
art ; had not been fired with ambition to 
go to London, as Sir Hugh (the pride of 
Stratford, and its benefactor) had done, 

and 



Stratford-upon-Avofi. 65 

and by dint of labour and perfeverance to 
make an independence, and return like 
him to Stratford, and live honoured and 
beloved among the townsfolk of his 
native place ? Who can tell whether 
this fame boy may not often and often 
have ftood ruminating under the fhadows 
of the buttrefles of Holy Crofs, admiringly 
examining the gables and cafements, the 
porch and antique barge-boards of the 
" great houfe," and refolving, mould any 
fale take place there again, if he were a 
man and had the means, it mould have 
but one matter — one, himfelf poffeffed 
of taftes like Sir Hugh's, who would 
" repair " and preferve the anceftral 
manfion ? 



In any biographies of Shakefpere or 
hiftories of Stratford which may have 
been written heretofore, New Place has 

been 



66 New Place, 



been little more than mentioned. A 
houfe was built upon it at fuch a date, 
fold at another, purchafed by Shakefpere 
at another, and in it he died. No one 
has ever as yet opened the pages of 
ancient records to tell us much more 
about it than that it belonged to the 
Clopton family, and was built by Sir 
Hugh Clopton. 

The time has perhaps come when 
it is defirable that the public mould 
become poffeffed of more particulars 
concerning it ; in fad:, when every avail- 
able information mould be produced to 
relate its hiftory. 

That it was Shakefpere's dwelling- 
place is the caufe of its interefr. in public 
efteem ; but that intereft will be in no 
degree decreafed if we know fomething 
about the affociations of the place, and of 
the family to which it chiefly belonged, 
efpecially as that family muft have been 

well 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 67 

well known to Shakefpere ; and members 
of it, that were his contemporaries, play- 
no obfcure part in the hiftory of his 
times. Whoever he may be that under- 
takes to give the world a true and fuffi- 
cient account of New Place muft inform 
his readers concerning the Cloptons of 
Clopton Houfe, iince the hiftory of New 
Place and its varied fortunes is as clofely 
twined around the Clopton ftem as the 
ivy around the oak. 

On the oppofite page will be found a 
pedigree fet forth, which has appeared 
abfolutely effential to the accomplifhment 
of the author's purpofe. By reference to 
it the reader will be able to follow him 
much more eaiily; and in order to 
fecure perfpicuity — as the fame names are 
repeated in feveral defcents — thofe have 
been alphabetically labelled to which it 
feems neceflary to direct particular atten- 
tion. 

It 



68 New Place, 



It has been mown (p. 16), that New 
Place was built in the reign of Henry VII., 
not later than 1490, by Sir Hugh Clop ton, 
formerly Lord Mayor of London (pedi- 
gree Aa). Sir Hugh was a younger fon 
of John Clopton, of Clopton — temp. 
Henry VI., — and being a younger fon, 
both he and his brother John fought 
their fortunes as merchants of the Staple, 
in London. Dying a bachelor, Sir Hugh 
bequeathed his refidence of New Place 
to his elder brother's grandfon and heir, 
William Clopton (Ab), in whom accord- 
ingly both Clopton Houfe and New 
Place became veiled. 

The will of Sir Hugh Clopton, bear- 
ing date 14th Sept., 1496, was proved 
at Lambeth on the 4th day of October 
in the fame year. He defcribes himfelf 
therein as " citezein, mercer, and alder- 
man of London," and defires that if he 
die in London, or within twenty miles 

thereof, 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 69 

thereof, he mould be buried in the church 
of St. Margaret's, Lothbury; but if at 
Stratford-upon-Avon, to be buried in the 
parifh church there, within the chapel 
of our Lady, between the altar of the 
fame and the chapel of the Trinity next 
adjoining, his body to be brought to 
ground with four torches and four tapers, 
and no more. 

After detailing an agreement with 
one Dowland and divers other mafons 
about the building of the chapel of the 
Trinity, and the tower of a fteeple to the 
fame, and mentioning his father and 
mother by name (John and Agnes), there 
is a difpofition of fundry legacies to cha- 
ritable and religious ufes to confiderable 
length ; after which bequefts to divers 
individuals ; and, finally, entries relative 
to the devife of his property, in thefe 
words : — 

Item. 



jo New Place, 



Item. — I will as for my landes and rentes all 
such is of copy holde that Thomas Clopton the 
yonger and I be feoffed in remayne holy to hym 
and to his heires after my decesse for ever and for 
lak of issue to the right heires of the lordship of 
Clopton And to William Clopton I bequeith my 
great house in Stratford upon Avon and all other 
my lands and tenements beinge in Wilmecote in the 
Brigge towne and Stratford with reversion and 
services and duetes thereunto belonginge remayne to 
my cousin Wm. Clopton and for lak of issue of 
hym to remayne to the right heires of the lord- 
ship of Clopton for ever being heires males Also 
I will that CC marc that Doctor Balsale delyvered 
me be by the advise and discrecion of my executours 
employed to the use behoofe and moost profitte of 
the college of Stratford-upon-Avon by the con- 
sent and advice of the wardeyn with other sadde 
prestis and honest men of the towne And all 
such housing and tenementes as I have within 
the towne of Caleys I will remayn to my cousin 
Hugh Clopton the elder and also the reversion 
of the house that I dwell in att London and the 
termes of the same. 

By the inquifition pojl mortem upon 
Sir Hugh Clopton, it appears that he 
died feised of the following property in 
Stratford : — 

De 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 7 1 

De uno burgagio jacente in Chapell strete in 
Stretfordpredicta ex oposito capelle exparte boriali 
et de uno dimidio burgagio jacente in Ely strete 
alias dicta Swynne strete et de uno burgagio in 
High strete et de uno orreo et gardino jacente in 
Henley strete et de uno dimidio burgagio jacente 
in Church strete in Stretford predicta et de duobus 
toftis quatuor virgatis terre quatuor acris prati et 
viginti acris pasture cum pertinentijs in Brygge- 
towne in parochia de Stretford Et quod idem 
Hugo ante obitum suum fuit seisitus in dominico 
suo ut de feodo de uno tenemento jacente in 
Stratford predicta in Bother strete vocato Balsals 
place et de uno gardino jacente in Church strete 
et de uno tenemento jacente in High strete super 
corneram de le Come market in quo Johannes 
Balamy inhabit at et de aleo tenemento in 
Chapel strete butlante super le Corne market 
in quo TTolfridus Smyth inhabitat in Stretford 
predicta.* 

Thefe documents will mow that Wil- 
liam Clopton (Ab), who had inherited 
the Clopton eftates in i486, received a 

very 

* According to this will, it appears that all this 
property here recited was demifed and let to Roger 
Paget and Elizabeth his wife, for term of life of the 
faid Rogjer. 



72 New Place, 



very confiderable addition to his patri- 
mony by the death — ten years later — of 
his great uncle, in 1496. 

But, together with this acceffion, he 
found himfelf mafter of two confiderable 
manfions, removed little more than a mile 
from one another; viz., Clopton Houfe 
adjoining the town, and New Place 
within it. 

Whether this gentleman kept up both 
the houfes there is no evidence to fhow ; 
but as we have proof of New Place being 
let by his fon (B), it feems probable that 
William Clopton (Ab) contented himfelf 
with the patrimonial refidence of Clopton, 
and fet the example which his fon fol- 
lowed. Having enjoyed his eftate for 
twenty-five years, he died in 1521, little 
more being known of him than that for 
fome offence to the Crown he received 
a pardon from Henry VIII. 

By the inquifition poji mortem, it ap- 
pears 



Stratford- upon- Avon. j 3 

pears that he was feifed of the following 
property in Stratford, and retained poffef- 
fion of New Place : — 



In uno burgagio jacente in strata vocata Chapel 
strete in Stretford super Aven ex parte boriali 
capelle Sancte Trinitatis in Stratford predicta 
in comitatu predicto et de uno burgagio jacente 
in Chapel strete predicta uno capite inde abut- 
tante versus Hugonem Raynold ex parte Australi 
et alio capite inde abuttante versus quandam 
stratam vocatam Shepe strete ex parte Boriali 
et de uno burgagio jacente in strata vocata 
High strete in Stratford predicta uno capite 
abuttante versus fundum Magistri Gilde Sancte 
Trinitatis de Stratford ex parte Boriali et alio 
capite inde abuttante versus stratam vocatam 
Slystrete ex parte Australi ac de uno burgagio 
jacente in strata vocata High strete in Stretford 
predicta uno capite inde abuttante versus tene- 
mentum Magistri Gilde Sancte Trinitatis predicte 
ex parte Australi et alio capite inde abuttante 
versus Willielmum Staffordshire ex parte Boriali 
Necnon de uno Burgagio jacente in strata 
vocata Briggestrete in Stratford predicta ac eciam 
de quodam orreo jacente in strata vocata Henley 
strete in Stratford predicta ac de quodam shopa 
jacente in strata vocata Wode strete quam Robertus 
Gonyatt modo tenet et occupat et de uno burgagio 

jacente 



74 New Place, 



jacente in strata vocata Rolher market in Stretford 
predicta in quo Deonisia Aylys vidua modo inha- 
bitat ac de uno burgagio jacente in strata vocata 
Grenhul strete in Stretford predicta in quo 
Nicholaus Norres modo inhabitat necnon de uno 
burgagio jacente in strata vocata Church strete in 
Stretford predicta &c Necnon de alio burgagio ja- 
cente in Church strete in Stratford predicta in quo 
Johannes Asliurste modo inhabitat uno capite inde 
abuttante versus Episcopum Wigornensis ex parte 
Occident ali et alio capite inde abuttante versus 
vicum Regis vocatum Church strete ac de duobus 
gardinis in Stretford predicta abuttantibus versus 
Johem Hubandys ex parte Boriali et versus dictum 
Magistrum Gilde predicte ex parte Australi nec- 
non de dimidio burgagio jacente in Ely strete in 
Stratford predicta nunc dimisso et locato pro 
quodam orreo. 

The above William (Ab) was fucceeded 
by his fon, bearing the fame name (B), 
who lived in poffeffion of the combined 
eftates from 1521 to 1560, at which 
latter date he died. His will is dated 
January 4th, and we learn from the in- 
quifition that he expired on the fame day 
at Clopton. The death of this William 

Clopton 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 75 

Clopton (B) brings to light the firft fa& 
explanatory of the caufes which led to 
New Place fubfequently becoming the 
property of Shakefpere. The will bears 
the name of " William Bott," one of the 
attefting witneffes. There are traces of 
Botts in the regifter of Stratford, though 
the author has vainly fearched for fome 
mention of this perfon, whofe name is on 
record as one of the practifing folicitors 
of Stratford at the period. 

June 2, 1575. — William, sonne of Robt. Bott 
(buried) . 

September 2, 1576. — Sonne to Edward Botte. 

July 18, 1588. —Margery, daughter of Ralph 
Bott, deceased. 

January 19, 1591. — Anne Botte, deceased. 

The probability is that the Botts were 
only profemonally connected with Strat- 
ford, and belonged to fome outlying 
parifh or hamlet. However this may 
be, it is certain that William Bott was a 

lawyer 



j6 New Place, 



lawyer in pra&ice at Stratford,* and that 
he was profeffionally engaged by William 
Clopton of Clopton (B). 

After his death, the inquifition was 
taken on the 17th day of June, 2nd of 
Elizabeth (1560), at Warwyck, and the 
Jurors found that he died feised (inter 
alia) in his demefne as of fee — 

De et in uno tenemento sive burgagio cum 
pertinentijs in Stratford super Aven in dicto comi- 
tatu Warr in vico ibidem vocato la Chappell 
strete modo in tenura sive occupacione Willielmi 
Bott. 

The fame inquifition informs us, that 
the fon and heir William Clopton (C) 
was at that date " twenty-two years of 
age." 

In due courfe of years this William 
(C) 

* Attorneys of Stratford about that date : — Mr. 
Thomas Truffell, Mr. William Court, Mr. Edward 
Davies, Mr. William Bott, Mr. Richard Spooner, 
Mr. Richard Symmons. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. jj 

(C) came alfo to die, as the pedigree 
mows, in the year 1592. 

The Book of Adminiftrations, in an 
entry regarding the goods of this gentle- 
man, reveals to us not only the bufinefs, 
but alfo the blood relationfhip between 
the Cloptons and the Botts ; and thus 
we receive a complete infight into a 
tranfaclion that feems lingular, regarding 
which no previous writer has given us 
any information. 

The following extract is moil impor- 
tant : — 

Octobris, 1597. 

Duodecimo die emanavit 
willtelmus commissio Johanni Bott, 

CLOPTOX. 

PROXIMO CONSANGUINEO 

Willielmi Clopton, nuper Biasij 

, . . -, * , . Johacnis, 1603. 

clum vixit de Clopton, m 

comitatu Warwici, de- 

functi, habentis, &c, ad 

Administratio administrandum bona, ju- 

anSSSnse ^ et credita ejusdem, per 

Maij, 1592. Annam Clopton, eius relic- Johanms, 

tarn, jam defunctam, non 

administrata, 



yS New Place, 



administrata, de bene, &c., 
in persona Thome White, Biasfj, 
notarij publici, procurato- 
rs, legitime constitute ju- 
rate. 



1605. 



In what way John Bott happened to 
be "proximo confanguineo" to William 
Clopton the author muft confefs his pro- 
found ignorance; for Heralds' College 
can give him no relief. No doubt there 
has been an omiffion in the pedigree, 
wherever the link between the Botts and 
Cloptons occurred; but the above ex- 
tract places it beyond all queftion that, in 
October, 1597, one John Bott, as the 
neareft of kin in the male line, after the 
death of Miftrefs Anne Clopton in 1596, 
the widow of William, adminiftered the 
eftate, it is to be prefumed, as the friend 
and relative of the Countefs of Totnefs, 
and Anne Clopton, of Sledwick, her 
lifter, the co-heireffes of the late William 
Clopton (C). 

What 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 79 

What the connection between John 
Bott and William Bott was, the author 
has not difcovered. They were probably 
father and fon, or brothers — the latter 
being the more probable of the two con- 
jectures. That they were clofe blood 
relatives is beyond a doubt. 

Having dug up thefe facts, it will not 
furprife the moft ordinary mind to find 
that William Bott, of Stratford-upon- 
Avon, folicitor, tenant of New Place, 
relative, and family lawyer to the Clop- 
tons — witnefs to the will of a father, and 
advifer to his fucceffor, aged twenty-two 
— took an early opportunity of improv- 
ing upon the chances which fortune had 
cafl in his way. 

William Clopton (B) died 1560. 

William Clopton, the adminiftration 
of whofe eftate fubfequently in 1597 is 
referred to above, (C) fucceeded, and in 
1563 he was induced to fell New Place to 

his 



80 New Place, 



his late father's tenant, lawyer, and his 
own blood relative. 

The tranfa£tions between Bott and 
William Clopton were confiderable, for 
by the indenture which follows it will be 
feen that Bott had a knack of gaining 
porTeffion of land belonging to the Clop- 
ton eftate. 

Indentur in? Willm Clopton et Willm Bott. 

CfjtS Entmttttre made the x th daye of Januarye 
in the syxte yere of the reigne of our souaigne 
ladye Elizabeth by the grace of God quene of 
England Eraunce and Irelande defendor of the 
faith &c betwene Willm Clopton of Clopton in the 
countye of Warr Esquyer on the one partye and 
Willm Bott of Stratforde uppon Avon in the said 
Countye gentleman on the other partye wyt- 
nesseth that the said Willm Clopton for and in 
consederacon of and for dyuse somes of money to 
hym in hande att and before the ensealinge here- 
of whereof and wherewy th the said Willm Clopton 
doth acknowledge hym selfe thereof well and 
trulye satysfyed contented and paid and the said 
Willm Bott his heires executors and administra- 
tors thereof clerely acquyted exoSated and dys- 

chardged 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 



chardged by these pntes hatli gyven and graunted 
bargayned and solde and by these psentes doth 
clerelye and frelye gyve graunte bargavne and 
sell to the said Willm. Bott all those his three 
pastures of grounde called the nether Ingon alias 
Ington and all that his meadowe called Synder 
meadowe lyinge and beinge in nether Ingon alias 
Ington in the paryshe of Bisshopps Hampton in 
the said Conntye of Warr nowe or late in the 
tenure or occupacon of Bycharde Charnocke and 
Willm Baylyes of Welon and the assignes of the 
said Bycharde Charnocke and all that his wynde- 
myll foure yardes of errable land and twentye and 
nyne leyes scituate lyinge and beynge in the 
Feildes of olde Stratforde and in the home nexte 
adioyninge to the said feildes and all that his 
meadowe lyinge in Shotterye meydowe nowe or 
late in the occupacon of John Combes and John 
Lewys alias Atkyns To have and to holde the 
said pastures meadowes wyndemylles lande and 
leys and all and singuler there apptenaunces to 
the said Willm Bott his heires and assignes for 
eumore to the onlye use and behoufe of the said 
Willm Bott his heires and assignes for ever And 
also the said Willm Clopton hath bargayned & 
solde by these psentes all and all maner of evi- 
dences deedes wrytinges chers and mynymentes 
that be touchynge and concnynge onlye the 
pmisses or any parte or parcell of them and the 
said evidences dedes wrytinges chers and myny- 
mentes the said Willm Clopton couenaunteth and 

graunteth 



82 New Place, 



graunteth by these psentes to and wyth the said 
Willm. Bott his executors or assignes to delyuer 
or cause to be delyued to hym the said Willm 
Bott his executors or assignes before the feaste of 
Easter next ensuinge the date hereof and fyr- 
thermore the said Willm Clopton for him his 
heires executors and administrators couenaunteth 
and graunteth by these psentes to and wyth the 
said Willm Bott that he the said Willm Clopton 
shall before the feaste of Easter make or cause to 
be made to the said Willm Bott his heires or as- 
signes a good suer suffycyente laufull and indefy- 
cyble estate in the lawe in fee symple of and in 
the said pastures meadowes leyes of pasture 
wyndemyll and errable lande wyth all and singu- 
ler there apptenaunces be yt by fyne feoffament 
dede or dedes inrolled release confirmacon re- 
couye wyth voucher or vouchers wyth warrantye 
agaynste all men or wyth out warrantye as cane 
and shalbe deuysed or aduised by the learned 
councell of the said Willm Bott his heires or as- 
signes and furthermore the said Willm Clopton 
for hym his heires executors and administrators 
couenaunteth and graunteth by these psentes to 
and wyth the said Willm Bott his executors and 
administrators that the said pastures meadowe 
wyndemyll and errable lande att the daye of the 
date hereof be clerelye dyscharged of all and from 
all former bargaynes sales dowres ioyntors leases 
statutes mchaunte and of the staple Recognisances 
iudgementes fynes amcyamentes condempnacons 

and 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 83 

and all other chardges and incomberances what- 
soever they be the rentes and suices to the cheife 
lorde or lordes of the fee from hensforth dewe 
and accnstomed to be paide onlye excepted and 
also the said Willm Clopton for hym his heires 
executors and administrators couenaunteth and 
graunteth by these psentes to and wyth the said 
Willni Bott his heires executors and administra- 
tors that he the said Willm Clopton and Anne 
his wyffe shall before the fourthe daye of Maye 
nexte ensuinge the date hereof knowledge a fyne 
before one of the quenes maiestyes iustyces of the 
Kinges benche or comon place to be levyed be- 
fore the Quenes Justices at Westm of and for the 
said pastures meadowe wyndemyll leyes of pas- 
ture and errable lande wyth all and singuler there 
apptenaunces and also the said Willm Clopton for 
hym his heires executors and administrators coue- 
nuanteth and graunteth by these presentes to and 
wyth the said Willm Bott his heires executors and 
assignes that he the said Willni Clopton and his 
heires shall att all tymes hereafter and from tyme 
to tyme when and as often as he or they shalbe 
thereunto reasonablye required by the said Willm 
Bott his heires or assignes doo suffer and cause 
to be done and suffered all and euy suche further 
acte and actes thinge and thinges as shalbe rea- 
sonablye required by the learned councell of the 
said Willm Bott his heires or assignes for the fur- 
ther assurance and suer makinge of the premisses 
to the said Willni Bott his heires or assignes for 

euermore 



84 New Place, 



euermore In wytnesse whereof eyther party to 
these psente Indentures in?chaungeably have 
pntto there seales the daye and yere firste above 
wrytten Et memorand qd ?cio die Aprilis anno 
Subscript pdcus Wills Clopton venit coram dca 
dria Regina in Cancellar sua apud Westm et re- 
cognouit Indentur pdcam et omia et singula in 
eadem content et spificat in forma supdict. 



January, in the 6th of Eliz., would be 
1563-4 — three months before Shakefpere 
was born. Upon the authority of Wheler, 
the author has affumed that the fale of 
New Place occurred the year previous 
(1563). Wheler is commonly moft ac- 
curate, and the above fale gives weight to 
his affertion, becaufe it proves that Bott 
was at that time making purchafes from 
William Clopton. The Fines of 1563 are 
filent, though it rnuft be obferved that 
there is a total abfence of all Fines in the 
Record Office for Michaelmas Term 
of that year ; which is to be accounted 
for by the fact that the plague was 

raging 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 85 

raging. It is moft probable that the 
fale took place at that time ; and that the 
late Mr. Wheler had met with fome 
private trace of it for which the author 
has fruitleflly fearched among public 
papers. 

That William Bott purchafed New 
Place upon fpeculation appears moft 
probable, becaufe it only remained in his 
poffemon for the period of four years. 
The Fines, Michaelmas Term, 9th Eliz., 
mow us that the fale by Bott to Under- 
bill took place at that date. 

Warr 1567. 
Hec est finalis concordia fca in Cur Dfie Eegine 
apud Westm in crastino Sci Martini anno regno? 
Elizabeth dei gra Angi Franc et Hibnie Regine 
fidei defensoris &c a conqu nono coram Jacobo 
Dyer Rico Weston Johe Walshe & Rico Harpnr 
Justic et alijs drie Regine fidelib5 tunc ibi psen- 
tib5 in? WiUm Underehyll quer et Willni Botte 
et Elizabeth uxem eius et Albanu Heton deforc 
de uno mesuagio et uno gardino cum ptin in 
Stretford sup Aven unde ptitum convencois sum 

fuit 



86 New Place, 



fuit in? eos in eadm Cur scil? qd pdci Willms Botte 
et Elizabeth et Albanus recogh pdet ten cum ptiri 
esse jus ipius Willmi Underehyll ut ift que idem 
Willms net de dono j)dcor Willmi Botte et Eliza- 
beth et Albani Et ill remiser et quiet 9 clam de 
ipis Willmo Botte et Elizabeth et Albano et hered 
suis pdco Willmo Underehyll et hered suis imppm 
Et p^terea idem Willms Botte concessit p se et 
hered suis qd ipi warant pdco Willmo Undere- 
hyll et hered suis pdict? ten cum ptiii cont a pdcm 
Willni Botte et hered suos imppm Et ultius 
idem Albanus concessit p se et hered suis qd ipi 
warant pdco Willmo Underehyll et hered suis 
pdict ten cum ptiii cont a pdcm Albanu et hered 
suos imppm Et insup ijdem Willms Botte et 
Elizabeth concesser p se et hered ipius Elizabeth 
qd ipi warant pdco Willmo Underehyll et hered 
suis pdca ten cum ptiri cont a pdcam Elizabeth et 
hered suos imppm Et p hac recogii remissione 
quiet aclam warant fine et concordia idem Willms 
Underehyll dedit pdcis Willmo Botte et Elizabeth 
et Albano quadraginta libras sterlingor. 

[Endorsed are the proclamations secundum for- 
mam statuti.] 



By this fale New Place was refcued 
from the hands of a grafping lawyer, and 
palTed into the polTeffion of a family long 

connected 



ofWol 
of Eat 



UNDER 



. Underhill = daugh. of t 
Staff., Esq. I of Bromw 



= daugh. of — Batt 

of Long Compton, co. "VV 



ist. d. of Slade Walse 

of Marstoke. { 



William Underhill, rd Underhill 

son and heir. Ob. s. p. >f Eatington 

Left his estate to his brother in 1541. 
Edward. 



Margaret, 
d. of — 2tf 
Edgebastt 



I I 

Humphrey. John. 



Thomas Uncjghters. 
of Eatin 
Ob. Oct. 6, 



Sir Edward Underhill. 

Ob. 13 Nov. 1 641. 

Ex quo. the senior branch. 



(A)| 

William Under] 

of IdlicoteandLoxl 

Ob. March 31, 157J 

r Buried at Eatingti 



B 



i I (B) Shirley, 

m Underhill 
icote, Esq. Born Sept. 1555. 
I July 13, 1597- Described in 1 
Will dated July 6, 1597. 



Fulke Underhill. 

Bapt. Jan. 28, 1578. 

Ob. March 1, 1598. s. p. 



thill 
pn, 



Willia 



= Bridget, 
d. of John, Lord 
Carleton. 



iK.e. 






(Q 1 


t. Alice, = 


= Sir William U 


Lucy of 


of Idlicote, 


Knt. 


Buried Sept. 2 
= Sarah, daugh. < 


nderhill = 


s, Esq. 


William Swift 


Underhill. 


a Catherine, 


Nicholas 


widow of Jo 


ster, Feb. 


Fogg. Ob. 


1727. Sold 




the Hon. 




U ,n "754, 




DOO. 





Stratford-upon-Avon. 87 

connected with Eatington, and Idlicote, 
near Shipfton-upon-Stour. The Under- 
bills, as the abstract of pedigree here- 
with given mows, were originally a Staf- 
fordshire family, and fettled at Eatington, 
a few miles from Stratford, on property 
belonging to the Shirleys.* The younger 
fon of Edward Underbill purchafed the 
eftate of Idlicote, a ihort diftance from 
Eatington, in the 10th year of the reign 
of Elizabeth (1568), from Ludovic Gre- 
ville, and fo eftablifhed the junior branch 
of the Underhills as a family in War- 
wickshire. This William (marked A on 
the pedigree) had a fon, alfo named 
William (marked B), who married his 
firft coufin, Mary, of Eatington. His 
fons, Sir Hercules and William, were 
ftaunch and loyal fupporters of the caufe 
of Charles I., and were compelled to 

redeem 

* Appendix F. 



UNDERHILL PEDIGREE. 



Will. Underbill 
of Wolverhampton, co. Staff., Esq. 



daugh. of Stanley 

of Bromwich, co. StafF., Esq. 



Nathaniel Underbill. 



daugh. of — Batt 

of Long Compton, co. War. 



J 



c , w , ' . . , , J° hn Underhill = ist. d. of Slade Walse = and. A°-nes, 

Shirlev in i loo Eatington, Esq., and widow of 

" y ' I John Norwood. 



William Underhi 
son :nul heir- Ob. 
Left his estate to hi; 
Edward. 



11, 
. 8. p. 

brother 



Edward Underhill = Margaret, 
had a fresh lease of Eatington d. of — Middlemore of 

ioo years, m 1541. Edgebaston, co. War. 



I 



Humphrey. John. 



Thomas Underhill = Eliz; 

of Eatington. I d. of Sir John Congreve 
Ob. Oct. 6, 1603. I of Stretton, co. of 
Stafford. 



I I I 
Daughters. 



Thomas Underhill = Eleanor, 

of Horningham. I daugh. of Roger Winter 
of Huddington. 



I I 



Sir Edward Underhill. 

Ob. 13 Nov. 1641. 

Ex quo. the senior branch. 



I I II I 

20 children, 

3 sons 7 daughters 



I I 



(A) I 

William Underhill 
of IdlicoteandLoxley. 
Ob. March 31, 1570. 
Buried at Eatington. 



= Ursula, 
d. of Sir John Congreve 
of" Stretton. " 
Ob. May 13, 1561. 



, widow 

of Rich. 
Newport. 



Edward Underhill 

of Bath Kington. 

Ob. inf. 



Edward, 
2nd. son and heir 



Eliz. 



- Edward J.ydyat, 

of Ge won ton, in 

Co. Oxon. 



Mary. = 



William Underbill ^ ^^ Th °' mai 

w'JT!* Esq * B °~ Sept * IS5 5- 0b - J«ly 7, 1597, -ffitat. 42 

Buried July 1 3 1597- Described in the Inq. P.M. as of Fillongky. 

W.ll dated July 6, 1597. Proved Aug. 9. J 



Dorothy. Margaret. A line. 



Fullce Underhill. 

fi apt. Jan. 28, I c 7 8. 

Ob. March 1, .598.%., 



n f tav t r Hercules Underhill 

q„, f I Id Ju»t& Knighted at Compton, 
Sept. 6, ,6i 7 . Heir to his brother Fulke 



= Bridget, 
d. of John, Lord 
Carleton. 



I 



William = Hester, 
u . at u ,d o- I fl- of S.Parker 
Bapt. March, 1587. of Llandenderil, Esq. 



(laugh, of Sir Thos! Lucy of 
Charlecote, Knt. 



„ (C > I 

Sir William Underhill 

of Idlicote, Knt. 
Buried Sept. 25, 17x0. 



Elizabeth. 
Obiit. Nov. 15, 1585. 
Buried at Stratford. 



Dorothy. Vaientine 



(D) f 



I of r T U £M erhi11 T S ^ah, daugh. of 
ofIdl.cote.Esq. William Swift of Worcester, Esq. 



2nd. Margaret, widow of 

Cornelius Van Bommel 

of London, Merchant. 

Ob. Sept. 28, 1712. ^Etat. 73. 



Samuel Underhill. 
Ph Pt ' . '"w St " Nicholas 
Church, Worcester, Feb 
*9. .1690. Mar. 1727. Sold 
Wbcote to the Hon. 
"encage Legge, in 1754, 
tor £14,000. 



Catherine, 

widow of Jonathan 

Fogg. Ob. 1739- 



(F)| 
Alice. 
Ob. Apr. 4, 
'779- -ffit. 91. 



Rev. George Hammond, M.A., 
Rector of Hampton Lucy, who 
succeeded his uncle, William 
Lucy, D.D. in 1724. Obiit. 
Feb. 29, 1760. JEt. 66. 



New Place, 



redeem their eftate from the Repub- 
licans for £1,177 % s ' ^^. 

William Underhill (B) was the perfon 
by whom the purchafe of New Place 
was made. By referring to the will of 
his father (in the Appendix G) it is 
evident that the Underhills porTefTed 
property in Stratford-upon-Avon; and 
therefore the purchafe of New Place 
by William Underhill is readily under- 
ftood. His name is repeatedly found 
among the fines levied about the years 
1570 to 1590,* proving that he was 
anxious to accumulate as much landed 
property as he could in the neighbour- 
hood of Stratford-upon-Avon ; in fad:, 
that he was ambitious to eftablifh the 
younger branch of the Underhills at 
Idlicote in as great affluence as the fenior 
branch at Eatington. It was an ambition 

deftined 

* Appendix G. 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 



deftined to be difappointed in the perfon 
of his grandfon (C), who having married 
Alice, the daughter of Sir Thomas Lucy, 
of Charlecote, had the misfortune to be- 
come a widower, and then to become 
enamoured of a widow, the relict of one 
Van Bommel, a rich Dutch merchant in 
London. This lady eftranged Sir William 
from rural life, led him to London, and 
drew him into commercial fpeculation. 
He embarked in the gunpowder trade ; 
the mills were blown up, and the pro- 
perty blown to the winds at the fame 
time. His fon, Hercules (D), was in- 
volved, along with his father, and the 
refult was, that in 1754 the eftate was 
fold to the Hon. Heneage Legge, by the 
grandfon Samuel (E), whofe fifter Alice 
(F) was allied with the family of the Lucys 
of Charlecote, having married the Rev. 
George Hammond, Rector of Hampton 
Lucy, who fucceeded his uncle, William 

Lucy 



90 New Place, 



Lucy, D.D., in the rectory, 1724. A 
monument to the memory of Mr. Ham- 
mond, and Alice Underhill, his wife, may 
be feen in the veftry of the modernly 
rebuilt church of Hampton Lucy ; the 
apfidal eaft end of which, lately added by 
the prefent owner of Charlecote, aided by 
the genius of Mr. Gilbert Scott, has tranf- 
formed this church into a fort of fmall 
cathedral ; and, in the midft of the beau- 
ties and affociations of Hampton Lucy 
and Charlecote, has furnifhed the lovers of 
architecture with a central object upon 
which the eye refts with gratitude to the 
liberality and tafte of the prefent mafter 
of Charlecote. 

From 1567 to 1597 William Under- 
hill continued the proprietor of New 
Place.* It is vain at this remote date to 
fpeculate upon the caufes which led to 

Shakefpere's 

* Appendix H. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 9 1 

Shakefpere's purchafe of New Place. 
Certainly there was no neceffity for 
William Underhill to fell any portion of 
his property. On the contrary, we have 
the beft proof that he had the delire and 
ability to increafe his landed eftate ; and 
we can eftimate its value when we recall 
the fact before ftated, that his fon, Sir 
Hercules, during the Civil War was glad 
to compound for it, by paying down 
£1,177. There is one fact concerning 
the fale of New Place which is worth 
noting. It was fold to Shakefpere in the 
Eafter Term of 1597; and Underhill 
was himfelf dead and buried July 13 th 
of the fame year. 

This fact rather favours the idea that 
New Place was fold from fome private 
or perfonal motive to Shakefpere ; for it 
moft certainly was not fold as a bufinefs 
tranfaction. William Underhill is known 
to us as an accumulator of landed pro- 
perty 



92 New Place, 



perty, not as a man who had any necef- 
fity to part with a fingle acre of his 
eftate. It is probable that Shakefpere 
was acquainted with the Underhills, and 
it may be that William Underhill was 
aware of the Poet's defire to poffefs him- 
felf of the property at New Place. New 
Place would not be a refidence at which 
Fulk, or Hercules — the future Sir Her- 
cules, Royalift, and favourite of King 
Charles — would be ever likely to refide, 
particularly as Idlicote itfelf was fo con- 
tiguous to Stratford. It will be fetn by 
the pedigree that Fulk died the year after 
his father, and the inheritance paffed to 
his brother Hercules, a minor. Had 
Fulk Underhill died the year before his 
father's death, a reafon for the fale of 
New Place would have been fupplied us. 
As it is, the probabilities are ftrongly in 
favour of the belief that Shakefpere was 
perfonally intimate with the Underhill 

family 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 9 3 

family; and both Fulk and Hercules, 
youths of about feventeen and nineteen 
years of age, were poffibly anxious that 
before their father died, the Poet and 
actor mould be gratified in his wiih, and 
New Place fecured to him. The facts, 
however, are thefe: in Eafter Term, 1597, 
the fale was effected, and on the 1 3th of 
July, William Underhill was buried. 
The preceding documents the author 
believes have never before been publifhed ; 
the following was difcovered by Mr. 
Halliwell:— 

Pasch. 39 Eliz. 

Inter TYillielmum Shakespeare quer et Williel- 
mum Underhill, generosum deforc, de uno mesu- 
agio, duobus horreis, et duobus gardinis, cum 
pertinentijs, in Stratford super Avon, unde placi- 
tum convencionis sum, fuit inter eos, &c. scilicet 
quod predictus Willielimus Underhill recogfi, 
predict a tenement a cum pertinentijs esse jus 
ipsius Willielmi Shakespeare ut ilia que idem 
Willielmus habet de dono predicti Willielmus 
Underhill, et ift remisit et quietclam de se et 

hered: 



94 New Place, 



hered suis predicto Willielmo Shakespeare et 
hered suis in perpetuum ; et preterea idem Wil- 
lielmus Underhill concessit pro se et hered suis 
quod ipsi waran? predicto Willielmo Shakespeare 
et hered suis predicta tenementa cum perti- 
nentijs in perpetuum. Et pro hac &c. idem 
Willielmus Shakespeare dedit predicto Willielmo 
Underhill sexaginta libras sterlingorum. 

In glancing over thefe dry legal papers, 
unearthed from the charnel - houfe of 
hiftory, we are brought into contact with 
the acts of men, whofe lives would be 
unknown had they not been preferved 
from oblivion by the embalming law. 
Shakefpere's acquaintances, neighbours, 
perhaps friends, are brought before us in 
fuch documents, and in the regifters of 
pariih churches. Thefe, and their tomb- 
ftones, are almoft our only fources of 
information concerning the men and 
women who were of note and confe- 
quence in and about Stratford, who murr. 
have been familiar with the Poet, and 

who 



Stratford-npon-AvGn. 95 

who might, by the labour of a few 
hours, have left us records of him which 
would have made the world grateful 
through all its hours to come. 

Let us be thankful, however, for pof- 
fefiing records that do furvive the de- 
ftruction of time ; and accepting them, 
if we cannot re-people the paft, at leaft 
we can catch a glimpfe here and there of 
forms familiar to the Poet both before 
and during his New Place life. 

Among the Special Commiffions taken 
for the county of Warwick, now pre- 
ferved in the Record Office, is an in- 
quilition upon the eftate of Ambrofe, 
Earl of Warwick, dated 32 Eliz. 
(1591). The document is very lengthy, 
and one of very great intereft. Some 
years back, attention was drawn to 
it by Mr. Cole, but as yet no antiquary 
has been found having a publisher of 
fufficient fpirit to riik its publication. 

The 



96 New Place y 



The following epitome of fuch portions 
as ferve the object of the author will be 
read with intereft. Among the com- 
miffioners will be obferved the name of 
Charles Hales, to which the attention of 
the reader is efpecially directed, for reafons 
which will appear hereafter. 

Special Commissions (Co. Warwick) tem/p. Eliz. 

Inquisitio capta apud Warwic 9 et Stratford 
super Avon sexto die Octobris anno regni domine 
nostre Elizabethe Dei Gracia Anglie Francie et 
Hibernie Regine fidei defensoris &c tricesimo se- 
cundo coram Fulcone Grevile milite Thoma Leygh 
milite Johanne Puckeringe armigeris servientibus 
dicte domine Regine ad legem, Thome Dabridg- 
court armigero, et Carolo Hales armigero, virtnte 
Comissionis dicte domine Regine extra Scaccarium 
nobis et alijs directe ad inquirendum et supervi- 
dendum de omnibus et singulis manerijs terris 
tenementis et liereditamentis in comitate predicto 
nuper Ambrosij comitis Warwicensis Et de quibus- 
dam articulis eidem Comissioni annexis per sacra- 
mentum Joliis Turner generosi Ricliardi Wood- 
ward generosi Radulphi Townesend generosi 
Johannis Fulwood generosi Humfridi Brace Ra- 
dulpki Lorde Willielmi Wyatt Johannis Sadler 

Ricardi 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 97 

Eicardi Walford Georgij Fraimcis Thome Nosor 
Willielmi Harbage Georgij Gybbes Willielrni 
Taylor Thome Warde Johannis Collins Thome 
Shackespeee Johannis Barrett Thome Goddard 
Eichardi Masters Willielmi Lapworth Thome 
Preyst Eicardi Williams et Eoberti Farefax qui 
dicunt ut sequitur 

* * * * 

Manerium de Novo Stratford 

Burgas sive villa de Stratford super Avon cum 
membris in comitatu Warr 9 . 



Smythe strete 

Thomas Shackespeee tenet per copiam datam 
xxj die Julij anno xxvij regine Elizabethe unam 
croftam terre ad edificandum horreum ibidem 
continentem per estimacionem dimidiam acram 
terre vocatam Pookecrofte et unum gardinum 
cum pertinentijs pro termino quinquagenta an- 
norum et re ddit per annum . . . iiij s viij d 

^fi H» *T» •«* 

Yicus vocatus Henley strete 
Johannes Shackespeee tenet libere unum 
tenementum cum pertinentijs per redditum per 

annum vj d sectam curie vj d 

Idem Johannes tenet libere unum tenemen- 
tum per redditum per annum xiij d sectam 

curie . xiij d 

Vicus 



98 New Place, 



Yicus vocatus le Corne strete et Churche strete 

WlLLIELMUS UnDERHILL GENEROSUS TENET LI- 
BERE QUANDAM DOMUM VOCATAM THE NEWE PLACE 
CUM PERTINENTIJS PER REDDITUM PER ANNUM 



Xlj d SECTAM CURIE xij d 

[Note — W m Underbill held also in " Walkers 
strete unum horreum & c "] 

Manerium de Shotterye reddit custumar tenen 
a Shotterie 
Johanna Hatheway vid tenet per copiam 
unum messuagium et duas virgatas terre et di- 
midiam cum pertinentijs per redditum per an- 
num xxxiij iiij d finem et harriotam . xxxiij s iiij d 

Manerium de Rowington cum membris customarij 
tenentes per copiam curie 

Thomas Shackespere tenet per copiam sibi 
et heredibus suis unum croftum cum pertinentijs 
per redditum per annum ij s ad festa predicta 
equaliter finem, heriotam, sectam curie . . ij s 

Liberi Tenentes 

Thomas Shackespere tenet libere unum me- 
suagium et unam virgatam terre cum pertinen- 
tijs per redditum per annum &c . . . . x s x d 

Wood end 

BiCARDUS Shackspere tenet per copiam ut 

supra 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 99 

supra unum cottagium et dimidiam virgatam 
terre et imam acram prati cum pertinentijs per 
redditum per annum ad festa predicta equaliter 
vj 3 x d finem et sectam curie vj s x d 

Mulsowe ende 
Thomas Shackespere tenet per copiam ut 
supra unum mesuagium et imam virgatam terre 
cum pertinentijs per redditum per annum ad 
festa predicta equaliter x s iiij d finem et harrio- 
tara, cum ac cedent, et sectam curie . . x s iiij d 

Georgius Shackespere tenet per copiam ut 
supra unum cottagium et unum croftum terre 
cum pertinentijs per redditum per annum ad 
festa predicta equaliter ij s finem et sectam curie ij s 

Bicardtjs Shackespere tenet per copiam ut 
supra unum mesnagium et dimidiam virgatam 
terre et duas parcellas prati cum pertinentijs 
per redditum per annum ad festa predicta equ- 
aliter xiiij 3 finem et liarriotam cum accederit xiiij s 

At the period of the above inquifition 
being held, Shakefpere was twenty-eight 
years of age. In a fmall town like Strat- 
ford it feems that his family had in- 
duftrioufly 

" Scattered his Maker's image o'er the land." 

There 



ioo New Place, 



There was a plentiful fupply both of 
Shakefperes and Hathaways in and about 
Stratford, not only at that date, but for 
many years previous. The regifters and 
records of Rowington and neighbouring 
parifhes have yielded their evidences to 
this procreative truth ; but the author 
believes the following quotations from a 
Mufter Roll of the 28th Henry VIII. 
(1537), have not previoufly been pub- 
lifhed :— 

Warwyke. 

The certyficathe of George Throkmerton knyght 
John Grevyle Fulke Grevyle Edward Conwey 
Esquiers and Antony Skynner gent Comyssioners 
of onr sonerayne lorde the kings conserninge 
musters to be taken in the hundred of Bar- 
lychwey and libertye of Pathloe in the county e 
of Warwyke accordinge to the kinges highnes 
co@ission to them directed doe certyfie unto your 
lordships as well the names and surnames of all 
abell men withine the hundred and libertye afore- 
said as horses harnes bowes arows billys and other 
thinges defensabell and mete for the warre with 
the diversitie therof whiche ar in every township 

of 



Stratford-upon-Avon, i o i 



of the said hundred and libertye that ys to 
save 

* * * * 

Rowing ton Able men ther 

* * ^| 

(Inter alios) Thomas Shakespere >Arch[er] 

* * J 
Ric : Shakespere 

* * * 
Wraxsall Able men ther 

* * ~) 

(Inter alios) Will@ Sakespere ^Arch[er] 
* # * J 

Ric : Shakespere 

# * * 
Abell men there 



Shotery 



V 



LOXLEY 



John Hathewey >Arch[er] 
Abell men ther 



Matthew Hathewey >>Arch[er] 



It will have been obferved that William 
Underbill's father (A), the founder of 
the Idlicote family, was pofTeffed of an 
eftate at Loxley, a hamlet about three 
miles from Stratford. In this place alfo 

the 



102 New Place, 



the Hathaways flourished, for in the will 
office at Worcefter the author found the 
following entries : — 

1541. Hathaway, Thomas . . Loxley. 

1557. Hath way, Simon . . . Loxley. 

1558. Hatheway, Joan . . . Loxley. 
1617. Hath way, John .... Loxley. 

1636. Hathway, Richard . . Stratford. 

1637. Hathway, Richard . . Stratford. 
1648. Hathaway, Andrew . . Bellbrougton. 

Now, although William Underhill (B), 
the poffeffor of New Place, had his chief 
refidence at Idlicote, it feems probable 
that New Place was a favourite town- 
houfe with him ; and equally probable 
that it was purchafed as a refidence for 
him during his father's lifetime, as the fale 
was effected by his father, three years 
prior to his death. That death may 
have occurred much more fuddenly than 
was ever anticipated ; and after his father 
was laid to reft in Eatington church, 
William Underhill (B) may have been 

unwilling 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 103 

unwilling to retire entirely from a reii- 
dence that had only been prepared for his 
reception three years previoufly. His 
focial rank and pofition are fufficiently 
indicated by the preceding inquifition, 
wherein he is ftyled "generofus;" and the 
author's reafon for believing that this 
"William Underhill — generofus'' (though 
actually feated at Idlicote) always kept up 
his town houfe in Stratford, and occa- 
fionally flayed there, although never 
making it a fixed refidence, is drawn 
from the fact, that while the hiftory of 
the family is to be read in the regifters 
at Eatington, and the regifters of Strat- 
ford are almoft filent, it does fo happen 
that the author has found one baptifmal 
entry at Stratford, as follows : — 

November 25, 1585. — Elizabeth, daughter of 
Mr. William Undrell. 

The natural inference drawn from this 
entry being, that during the winter 

months 



104 New Place, 



months of 1585, the Underhill family 
removed from Idlicote to their Stratford 
houfe, at which place it chanced that one 
of the children was born. We gather 
from thefe various documents that both 
at Loxley and in Stratford, William 
Underhill of New Place was furrounded 
by Shakefperes and Hathaways. They 
mufl: have been familiarly known to him, 
and he to them ; for although there was 
a broad line of focial demarcation be- 
tween the yeomen and able - bodied 
" archers," and the " generofus " mafter 
of New Place, ftill we muft remember 
in the cafe of John Shakefpere and his 
fon there would not be fuch a feparation, 
becaufe John Shakefpere had attained a 
pofition in the town fufficiently refpecl- 
able to allow of a friendly intimacy exift- 
ing between theUnderhills and his branch 
of the Shakefpere family. 

From his childhood in 1567 until 1597 

Shakefpere 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 105 

Shakefpere would know William Under- 
bill, Gent., as the owner of New Place. 

That he muft have known him 
focially, and that Underhill muft have 
had fome private and friendly motive in 
felling New Place to Shakefpere, almoft 
upon his death-bed, is a conclufion which 
the date and circumftances of the fale 
feem to force upon us. But Shakefpere 
we know was intimately acquainted with 
John a Combe, of the " College/' and in 
his will left his fword to Thomas Combe. 
What of that ? 

The queftion will be anfwered with 
the fame explanation which the author 
would give to the companion queftion, 
which we can well believe many time- 
worn lovers of Shakefpere will be inclined 
to afk : " Why do you burden your book 
" with a fet of elaborate pedigrees which 
" no one has given before, and the ufe of 
" which is not obvious now ? " 

Let 



io6 New Place, 



Let fuch queftions receive this anfwer. 
Becaufe the writer believes, honeftly and 
earneftly, that much more fact, and in- 
finitely more probability, concerning 
Shakefpere's life, lies within our reach 
than is commonly fuppofed. Heraldry 
and pedigrees may feem to fome perfons 
very dry ftudy; but it may fafely be 
afferted that, defpite the flippant jokes of 
modern democratic writers at the expenfe 
of the Herald's Tabard, and the mediaeval, 
quaint affociations of the College of 
Arms, that inftitution, the Books of 
Vifitations, and the heraldic dilplays upon 
ancient church monuments, are becoming 
daily more and more valuable as contri- 
butors to the hiftory of our country. 
However humorous it may feem to fee 
the novus homo of Pie Corner or 
Pudding Lane affuming a crefl: to 
which he has not the remoteft pretenfion, 
and can mow no claim, neverthelefs in 

the 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 07 

the very affumption there is the indica- 
tion of an Englifhman's reverence and 
regard for the ancient landmarks of family 
and focial hiftory. 

What does it matter to any one if the 
inventor of the latere. D electable Soap 
or patentee of the Bifurcating-Baltic- 
B riffle- Brum, drops in at one of thofe 
terrific Holborn fhops, which look like 
mediaeval menageries for the exhibition 
of crimfon griffins and uproarious gam- 
boge lions ; and there, for the fmall charge 
of 5j\, has his " arms found ? " What 
though the brindle cat fits and mews 
a-top his note-paper, curls its tail upon 
the flap of his envelopes, and fpreads its 
whifkers over the handles of his fpoons ? 
Do Garter or Clarenceux lofe their 
appetites becaufe the vaulting ambition 
of the mop has a fneaking love for thefe 
things, and pays for it in the Queen's 
taxes, with hair-powder and fuch like? 

Not 



io8 New Place, 



Not a jot. They know well enough that 
the honeft citizen would have found his 
arms at Doctors' Commons if he could ; 
and that, pleafe God and his own in- 
duftry, if he can found a family, fome day 
or another the brindled cat may have its 
turn in that direction ! Though the 
cynic may fmile and fneer at fuch 
cockney pretention, and though it has a 
ludicrous afpect, neverthelefs it is not all 
ludicrous. There is fomething genuinely 
Englifh at the foundation. There is an 
evidence of the fpirit of homage to 
antiquity; of reverence for even the 
humbleft aflbciation with anything con- 
nected with the records of the country* 

As all forms, ecclefiaftical or civil, have 
their meaning and their moral, fo the forms 
of heraldry — the quainteft of all — are full 
of the deepeft meaning and intereft. Let 
the prefent writer make bold to fay that a 
moft intenfely interefling book might be, 

may 



Stratford-upGn-Avon. 109 

may, perhaps, be yet written regarding 
Shakefpere, by collecting together a 
record of the perfons and the incidents 
of thofe perfons' lives with whom the 
Poet muft of neceffity have been aflb- 
ciated. Thefe pages cannot be devoted 
to fuch an undertaking ; and, there- 
fore, there will be no further attempt 
made in them than to indicate the direc- 
tion in which it feems well that fome one 
fhould travel. 

It is by no means impoffible to fur- 
round Shakefpere with friends and ac- 
quaintances, concerning whom the world 
generally knows nothing up to the 
prefent time. 

What is the common eftimate of him 
and of his arTociates ? Vulgarity is ftamped 
upon the traditional ftories regarding his 
life and fociety. We are told he was 
apprenticed to a butcher. He was a 
deer-ftealer. He married a woman in a 

hurry, 



1 1 o New Place, 



hurry, for a reafon about which the lefs 
faid the better. He lived unhappily with 
his wife, and as an evidence of his in- 
difference, left her his fecond-beft bed. 
Laft of all, he died of a fever, caught 
from a bout of drunkennefs. Poor 
Shakeipere ! 

Can any one mow that there is a 
fylJable of truth in any of thefe ftories ? 
Do fuch low-bred vulgarity, immorality, 
and beaftiality, fuit with the mind of 
William Shakefpere ? 

Has he not in his own words fupplied 
for us the vixen-like revenge which little- 
nefs, and the worft littlenefs of all, that 
of goffips, takes upon any real greatnefs 
of mind and character : — " I'll give thee 
" this plague for thy dowry ; be thou as 
"chafte as ice, as pure as fnow, thou 
" malt not efcape calumny." 

Whence do all thefe ftories about our 
Poet come ? Plain, vulgar-tongued folk 

call 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 1 1 

call them — goffip. When ventilated in 
a fuperior atmofphere, and carried with 
the beefs and muttons from the fcullery 
to the dinner-table, the word diffolves 
into the politer phrafe — tradition. Be it 
fo ! But what is Tradition ? Tradition 
is not to be believed ; but always to 
be confidered. Tradition is a perjured 
witnefs, who never yet came into court 
without a lie upon her tongue — for it is 
a lie to pervert, diftort, exaggerate, or 
diminifh aught of the truth ; and where, 
either in the memory of man, or on 
the pages of hiftory, was there ever a 
piece of " goffip," " town's talk," " what 
everybody fays," " tradition," that did 
not, on inveftigation, turn out to be 
gorged with falfehood ? 

The ftories current concerning Shake- 
fpere, which the lapfe of ages has confe- 
crated with the undeferved title of tradi- 
tion, might well aftonifh any ftranger to 

Englifri 



1 1 2 New Place, 



Englifh habits ; but they are not in 
the fmalleft degree aftonifhing, when 
we remember that it is one of the 
manners and cuftoms of the Englifh 
to try to knock a man over, the mo- 
ment he lifts his head above the herd 
of his fellow-men. If by abufe and 
flander we can blight his fpirit, dull his 
brain, and break his heart, we give God 
thanks for having accomplifhed a worthy, 
Chriftian, and charitable end. But if he 
ftands the pelting, and wont be put down, 
there is a time coming when he can be 
cuffed and cudgelled to any extent. For 
your genuine lover of flander — the vam- 
pire of private life — the greateft treat on 
earth is the " poft-mortem " of a man's 
character, whom he has followed with 
envy, hatred, and malice through life. 
There are Cannibals, even in England, 
who want a gofpel preaching to them far 
more than their heathen brethren; for 

while 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 1 3 

while the latter whoop and dance around 
the dead, and then eat the perifhing fleih, 
the former exultingly leap upon, and 
until they are lick with furfeit, devour the 
more than body — the reputation, the life 
in death, of thofe who lie defencelefs in 
the grave. 

There is no need to be furprifed that 
even mighty Shakefpere's memory has 
been handed down to us blackened and 
defamed by goffip. In inverfe ratio, 
the higher a man attains, the lower and 
bafer he is likely to be reprefented. An 
unerring gauge whereby to meafure the 
value of character and genius againft 
goffip, in the cafe of Shakelpere, is here 
fupplied. 

The ftory — which will hereafter be re- 
ferred to — regarding the caufes which led 
to Shakefpere's death, is generally familiar, 
and has, as a matter of courfe, been com- 
monly reported in Stratford. In order to 

mow 



ii4 New Place 9 



mow how goffip — otherwife tradition — 
improves as me paffes from mouth to 
mouth, the author lately encountered 
the ftatement, gravely made to him by 
a clergyman at Luddington, who had 
been allured of its truth, that " Shake- 
" fpere died drunk." That affertion will 
read to every one as wicked and pre- 
pofterous as it founded in the ears of 
the writer. But why wicked and pre- 
pofterous ? It is the natural refult, and 
inevitable development of the ftory told 
in the Rev. Mr. Ward's Diary, which 
need not be further difcuffed in this 
place. This piece of goffip of 1862, 
the author believes precifely to the fame 
extent that he does any and all of the 
before-mentioned ftories. They all reft 
upon one bafis, and that bafis is a rotten 
one. 

A very clever, and, in its way, a very 
convincing pamphlet, was publifhed a 

fhort 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 115 

fhort time back, by Charles Holte Brace- 
bridge, Efq., entitled " Shakefpeare no 
" Deerftealer," the gift of which is, that 
Shakelpere did not kill the deer in 
Charlecote at all, but in Fulbroke Park ; 
that in Co doing he committed no offence 
againft the law, or morals, but that he 
offended Sir Thomas Lucy thereby. Mr. 
Bracebridge quotes the ftatement of the 
late Mr. Lucy to Sir Walter Scott, that 
" the park from which Shakefpere ftole 
" the buck was not that which furrounds 
" Charlecote." 

Mr. Bracebridge's pamphlet is well 
worth reading, and he has done good 
fervice by it to the memory of the Poet. 

Now as to the value of tradition. 
Though tradition invariably fpeaks falfely, 
as in one inftance Mr. Bracebridge has 
mown, neverthelefs, though a wretched 
bad witnefs in court to give evidence, fhe 
ferves as a very ufeful fign-poft upon 

the 



1 1 6 New Place, 



the highways of time. She commonly 
(not always) points to fomething that 
deferves inquiring into, and indicates 
the direction in which we mall find 
it worth our while to travel. So with 
regard to the traditions about Shake- 
fpere : the author believes they are a 
mixture of abfurdity and of falfehood ; 
but at the fame time, while rejecting 
them as at all truftworthy, they feem to 
him to ferve a ufeful purpofe in exciting 
inquiry, and making us feek for the 
truth that underlies them. As evil is 
commonly good perverted, fo falfehood 
is often the wicked or idle mifreprefenta- 
tion of fomething true at bottom ; and as 
good as it is true. 

Let any one of the fo-called traditions 
concerning Shakefpere be brought into 
court, and fearchingly examined, and it 
will be committed for perjury. 

But let us take the rambling old ter- 

centenarian 



Stratford- upon - Avon. 117 

centenarian crone at her real value; go 
and fit with her in her timber and plafter 
cottage at Stratford, and liften to her as 
fhe told her ftory to Betterton, or to 
Ward, or in her later years to Malone or 
Stevens, and we mail thank her, not for 
what fhe teaches us, but for fending us 
off in the right direction in purfuit of 
fomething we have yet to learn. 

There is Mr. John Shakefpere, in 
Henley Street — he is a glover, or a 
butcher, or a " yeoman," or wool-dealer ! 
— what is he ? Can no one fum up all 
the fuppofed trades or bufinefles, and fay 
in a word, that they moft probably mean 
he was a woolflapler ? Make him of 
any one of the above trades actually and 
folely, and we cannot reconcile the other 
ftatements. 

But like the variorum readings of 
the fame names and the fame employ- 
ments in Shakefpere's days, if we 

adopt 



1 1 8 New Place, 



adopt the conclufion that he was a 
Merchant of the Staple, we. mall eafily 
be able to underftand his being called 
both butcher and glover. Confidering 
what a ftaple trade gloving was in John 
Shakefpere's time, in his own county, 
if he were connected with the mercers 
in London, he would of neceffity deal in 
gloves. The pofTeffor of land, and the 
owner of cattle, it is the height of pro- 
bability that he may have flaughtered his 
fheep in his own farm-yard, in order to 
have the fldns properly preferved. Butcher 
he might eafily be called, and fo might 
his fon William ; and alfo be reprefented 
as apprenticed to a butcher, when he was 
in reality apprenticed to his father. 

So, again, the ftory about Shakefpere 
killing an animal, or helping to kill one, 
may be true in origin, but tradition's 
reprefentation of it be as untrue, as if 
one of our princes or peers were nomi- 
nated 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 119 

nated a " butcher " becaufe he happened 
to be preient when a flag's throat was 
cut. 

And lb, again, there is the deer ftory. 
Mr. Bracebridge may be right as far as 
he goes ; and yet, while tradition points 
to fome facl that did occur, he might 
perhaps, though wanting evidence, and 
yet in truth, have gone much further. 
Might not Shakefpere have been out, not 
merely for fport, but as a matter of bufi- 
nefs ? Might not his father have regu- 
larly killed, and paid for deer out of 
Fulbroke Park ? Might not the quarrel 
with Sir Thomas Lucy have arifen upon 
this ground ; and an imperious, hot- 
headed country fquire have attempted to 
interfere with Shakefpere, thereby making 
himfelf ridiculous, and henceforward be- 
( coming famous in his folly ? 

Again, as regards Shakefpere's removal 
to London. May not that have hap- 
pened 



i2o New Place, 



pened for bufinefs motives ? and may he 
not, during his whole London career, 
have benefited by a profitable trade, that 
gave him the pofition of a gentleman, 
and connected him with gentlemen ? 
and alfo enabled him to realife that 
independence upon which he retired ? 
It muft never be forgotten that his 
father was in difficulties about the time 
when the Poet removed to the metro- 
polis ; and from that moment we never 
again hear of, or trace any domeftic 
anxieties in the houfe of John Shake- 
ipere. The inference feems conclufive. 

Look at Shakelpere, in his home-life 
at Stratford : is he not continually en- 
gaged in commercial tranfactions — buying 
and felling corn, buying land, farms, ty thes ? 
Shakefpere was a bufy man — an active, 
thrifty, accumulative man. He was 
evidently anxious to make money, and 
to found a family. His will, and the 

records 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 121 

records of Heralds' College, in his 
father's grant of arms, prove this. 

When he became more permanently 
refident at Stratford, we find him exhibit- 
ing the habits of life previoufly contracted. 
Men's habits are not changed in mid-life, 
and new ones arTumed. What Shake- 
ipere was at Stratford we have every 
reafon to fuppofe he was in London ; 
but whatever the fources of his accumu- 
lations, whether from one or various 
fources — the ftage, his plays, and com- 
mercial enterprifes — we know that he did 
make money ; and that at a very early time 
of life he was able to eftablifh himfelf 
and family in New Place. So far from the 
vulgar, bafelefs conjecture, that Shakefpere 
ran off to London to avoid Sir Thomas 
Lucy having anything to recommend it, 
it feems to the author as far-fetched and 
prepofterous, as it is totally devoid of a 
fcintilla of evidence in its favour. 

Why 



122 New Place, 



Why mould we delight in perpetuating 
fuch miferable fudge ? Why fhould one 
writer after another, and one generation 
after another, pafs on, from book to book, 
and from mouth to mouth, a fet of 
ftories that would be (diverted of the 
grand-founding epithet " tradition," and 
branded with their proper defignation, 
— pot-houfe goffip) rejected as only 
fuited to the ideas of tap-room topers ? 
The term is ufed advifedly. There is the 
faint, oppreffive odour of that region — 
faturated with the ftench of ftale beer, 
and the defpoiling of men's reputations — 
about almoft all the " traditions " of 
Shakefpere. Shakefpere with merry com- 
panions, over the " cheerful bowl," is 
perpetually being prefented to our notice 
by tradition. Shakefpere, and "the fcience 
of drinking (at Bidford) the largeft quan- 
tity of liquor without being intoxicated!" 
Shakefpere dead-drunk, and deeping the 

night 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 123 

night through "under the umbrageous 
"boughs of a crab-tree!" Shakefpere 
making doggrel verfes at the expenfe of 
his particular and perfonal friend, at a 
tavern, faid to have been known by the 
flgn of "the Bear !" Shakefpere drinking 
too hard at a merry-meeting, and dying 
thereby of a fever ! 

Oh ! pundits of our literature ! bio- 
graphers of the greater! man of all your 
craft ! lovers of the Saxon tongue ! is it 
by fuch boozing tales as thefe that ye 
honour the High Prieft of your profef- 
lion ? Muft the incenfe that you offer 
at his fhrine reek with the coarfe odour 
of the village politician's and wifeacre's 
foul tobacco, and ftill fouler breath? 
Can no Neibuhr of Englifh record be 
found ftrong enough and manly enough 
to cleanfe the ftream of hiftory, by 
purifying and contemptuous ridicule of 
this corrupting garbage, polluting every- 
thing 



124 New Place, 



thing with its poifonous " tradition ? " We 
are taught to diftruft an autograph of 
Shakefpere's, and cautioned not to believe 
a fcrap of writing to be true, unlefs there is 
internal corroborative evidence to eftablifh 
its authority ! Better, furely, to caution 
the world againft believing a fcrap of 
vulgar goflip, unlefs there is fome internal, 
and corroborative evidence to eftablifh its 
authenticity. No one is a jot the worfe 
or better whether a line of writing be 
genuine or forged ; but a whole nation 
is made worfe, — every man who fpeaks 
the Saxon tongue is worfe, becaufe his 
confidence and refped: are fhaken, if he 
difcover that the teacher of the higheft, 
nobleft thoughts — the Poet who fills the 
heart with admiration for all that is noble 
and virtuous and honourable in human 
nature, began life as a thief, fpent it as a 
vagabond, and ended it as a drunkard ! 
Softer-fpoken words might be culled from 

the 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 125 

the dictionary; but thefe are the real and 
fimple terms by which, in plain, un- 
varnifhed ipeech, Shakefpere deferves to 
be defcribed, if the felf- condemning 
" traditions " in common currency re- 
garding him are to be reproduced and 
re-believed. 

It may be faid, that the author has met 
tradition by nothing better than fuggei- 
tion and that any one can draw pictures 
from imagination. But this would hardly 
be juft. Which fort of evidence is more 
agreeable and acceptable, — that which is 
probably true becaufe it refts upon con- 
clufions derived from known facts ; or 
that which is probably untrue, becaufe it 
refts upon no other foundation than the 
loofe and fhifting ftories of goffips ? 

Goffip reprefents Shakefpere as a booz- 
ing and beer-drinking fellow. Facts do 
not prove that he was not; but facts 
provide us with evidences of his energy, 

labour, 



126 New Place, 



labour, and thrift, leading us to conclufions 
from thofe facts which convince us he 
could not poffibly have been fo. Ex uno 
difce omnes ! Goffip fays he was a deer- 
ftealer in Charlecote Park: facts now prove 
that ftatement to be pofitively falfe, and 
that if he killed a deer at Fulbroke, Sir 
Thomas Lucy had no power to prevent 
him. Goffip fays he ran away to avoid 
the knight's difpleafure ; facts prove that 
his father was a man in confiderable re- 
pute, connected with the Mercer's trade, 
but that he got into difficulties ; and at 
that precife period we find young Shake- 
fpere went to London. Facts truly do 
not prove, but they lead us to a reafon- 
able conclufion bafed upon them, that 
Shakefpere went to London for good and 
honeft purpofes ; and that he went as a 
man of bufinefs, not as a homelefs 
vagrant is the more probable, becaufe 
facts mow that his father retained poffef- 

fion 



Stratford-upon-Avcji. 127 

lion of his refidence, and we hear no more 
of his troubles ; while in a brief period of 
time his fon returned to Stratford, able to 
eftablifh himfelf in the " Great Houfe " 
there. 

Let us judge of Shakefpere by what we 
really know of him, however fmall and cir- 
cumfcribed the amount of our information 
may be. Rejecting with fcorn the old 
wives' fables, which other old wives feem 
to have delighted in perpetuating, it is a 
fafer and more honourable path to purfue, 
if we fet out upon a journey in fearch of 
facts, and, like Pilgrim, eafe our moulders 
of that bundle of fictions which have 
burdened us. Let tradition be a finger- 
poft, and nothing more ! If the enthu- 
liaftic lovers of the Poet would content 
themfelves with healthy exercife, they 
might perhaps find that there are ftill 
many facts waiting to be dug out of 
ancient records that have been brufhed 

paft 



128 New Place, 



paft by us ten thoufand times, and yet 
never detected. The filver mines of 
Potofi were difcovered by the tearing 
afide of a bramble ; and yet their treafures 
had laid through the long centuries clofe 
to the handling of men. So it may prove 
that there are treafures of hiftory that 
have been very clofe to fome among us, 
which an accident fome day may difclofe. 
Even though it be not fo 9 the fubjecl: is 
well worth diligent fearch. 

It feems extraordinary that many of 
the rapturous admirers of the genius of 
the Poet perpetuate, as if they were 
true, fo many vulgar flanders and goffips 
regarding the man. If they were true, 
we might begin to fufpecl: there is fome- 
thing after all in that ftrange theory that 
Shakefpere's plays were never written by 
Shakeipere, but by Francis Bacon ; be- 
caufe it would be impoflible to reconcile 
the man that we mould picture from the 

writings ' 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 129 

writings, with the man that we mould 
know in his acts. In Mr. Charles 
Knight's moft interefting "Biography of 
" Shakefpere " and running commentary 
upon contemporary hiftory, manners, and 
habits of the country, a proper and 
contemptuous proteft is entered againft 
the ungracious doggrel attributed to 
Shakefpere, as written at the expenfe of 
his friend and neighbour John a Combe, 
an eftimable, worthy, and charitable 
gentleman, whom tradition has nick- 
named ufurer ! Ufurer ! Let any one 
read his Will, and it will be &en what a 
friend the poor of Stratford had in the 
kind old man who lived among them, 
and bountifully bequeathed his property 
for their benefit. The good that he did, 
has, indeed, been interred with his bones. 
This ftory, and others, Mr. Knight has 
difmiiTed as they deferve. It is heartily 
to be defired that many more of the 

Poet's 



1 30 New Place, 



Poet's biographers had done, and would 
ftill do, the fame. 

Can no other picture of him be drawn? 
Let us make the attempt. 

It will be admitted that Shakefpere 
was a precocious and ambitious youth. 
Let the motive for his early marriage have 
been what it may, there was precocity in 
the ftep. But if we difcard the difhonour- 
ing fuggeftions that have been made re- 
garding it, and confider it as the act of a 
young man who had a folemn and earneft 
appreciation of the value and purpofe of 
life, we mall find that fuch a view of the 
tranfaction harmonifes with the whole of 
Shakefpere's conduct. Let it be faid — it 
matters not — that this is taking a very 
novel view of his con duel: : is it not 
better, when we are attributing motives 
to a perfon, to try and find good rather 
than bad ones ? Shakefpere, it is true, 
needs no apologift, leaft of all the ad- 
vocacy 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 131 

vocacy of fo feeble a pen as that which 
traces thefe lines ; but to furnifh motives 
for a man's acts is a paftime at which all 
can play an even game ; and therefore the 
fancy of one man is juft as good as that 
of another. The Poet's character is read 
from a totally different point of view in 
thefe pages to that taken by De Quincey 
and by many others.* Let it be pardoned, 
if in love and admiration the author feems 
prefumptuous when he fays, that he con- 
fiders, in the glorification of the poet, 
Shakefpere's character has wanted ftaunch 
and faithful champions, — men 

"To think no flander ; no, nor Men to it." 

Let the fuggeftion above made be enter- 
tained for a moment, and in what a totally 
different light do the two momentous ac- 
tions of the Poet's life prefent themfelves ! 
— his early marriage, and his early fetting 

out 

* Appendix I. 



132 New Place, 



out for London to fight circumftance 
and conquer independence ! 

Precocity and ambition are herein com- 
bined. Who shall blame them ? This 
man commenced life as a good man mould 
begin it: there was no "fowing of wild 
oats ; " no libertinifm ; no exhauftion of 
the ftrength of youth amidft the ftews of 
a metropolis. Let Shakefpere's acts — the 
facts of his life — be weighed againft the 
words of gofiips who never knew him, 
and the author contends thofe facts all go 
to turn the fcale in his favour. 

His firft ftep on the threfhold of man- 
hood argues the fenfe of refponfibility, and 
the ambition for reipect ability. It was in 
the man; and it came out and mowed 
itfelf at the earlieft poflible moment.* 

There 

* When it was ftated, at p. 31, that there are two 
feals to Shakefpere's marriage bond, one bearing the 
impreifion "R.H.," it would have been more correct 
to fay there "were," becaufe the feals have entirely 
vanifhed, and there is fcarcely a trace of them on the 

parchment. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 133 

There is another characleriftic — the 
granting of arms to Shakefpere's father. 

It 



parchment. Nearly fourteen years have elapfed fince 
the author laft heard anything of that bond, and it was 
only by accident that, being in Worcefter lately, he took 
the opportunity to give it a freih examination. On 
doing lb, he compared the text of Mr. Halliwell and 
Mr. Knight with the original, and found that the copy 
(given at pp. 29, 30) is perfectly correct, while that of 
Mr. Knight ("Biography," p. 275) contains thefe 
errors : — 

" By reafon of any pcontract or affinitie, or by any 
other," &c, inflead of " by reafon of any pcontract, 
confanquitie, affinitie," &c. 

" May lawfully folemnize mriony," inftead of "may 
lawfully folemnize mriony together." 

" Laws in that cafe provided," inftead of " lawes in 
that behalf provided." 

With regard to Luddington, as the probable place of 
Shakefpere's marriage, it may be well to put it on record 
that there is ftill living an old gentleman, named Pidering, 
at Colton, near Alcefter, who, when a youth, refided at 
Luddington. This perfon diftinctly remembers having 
heard it pofitively afferted by the inhabitants of the 
hamlet that Shakefpere was married in their chapel ; 
and he alfo remembers the books and regifters of the 
chapel being burnt in a fire which occurred at his 
coulin's, the chapelwarden's houfe, at the commence- 
ment of the prej en t century. (Query. Did Malone ever 
fearch thofe books?) Mr. Baldwin, who now occupies the 
farm on Luddington Green, preferves the remains of a 
Gothic font which belonged to the chapel, as alfo the 
Black-letter Bible which belonged to the reading-delk, 
and the key of the porch, which was dug up a few 
years fince in the garden which now covers the ruins. 



134 New Place, 



It is univerfally admitted that this was 
Shakefpere's act ; and that it was he who 
prompted John Shakefpere's application 
to Herald's College. 

It will be obferved upon the Shakefpere 
Pedigree, that the condition of his ancef- 
tors and the grants of lands, as recorded 
in the draft of the pedigree in Herald's 
College, have been reproduced as correct, 
attributing them to the favour of Henry 
VII., to whom John Shakefpere's great- 
grandfather did faithful and approved fer- 
vice. William Dethick, Garter Principal 
King-at-Arms, has been charged with 
granting arms improperly ; and Mr. Halli- 
well particularly dwells upon the fcoring 
and interlining of the original grant of 
1596. It feems to the author that this 
fcoring and correction was moft natural, 
and that in all probability it occurred from 
the fact of the evidence being taken down 
from the lips of William Shakefpere. 

Dethick 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 135 

Dethick is not to be charged with the 
falfehood or mifreprefentation, if any, 
appearing in the two drafts of arms, dated 
1596 and 1599. In both thefe the faithful 
fervices of the Shakefperes to King Henry 
VII. is folemnly afferted ; and it is hard to 
believe that the affertion is untrue, when 
it agrees fo well with the probable fettle- 
ment of the Shakefperes in Warwick- 
mire, and was made, almoft beyond doubt, 
by the Poet perfonally, to Dethick, fince 
the draft bears date when Shakefpere was 
bufy in London, and the year before he 
pur chafed New Place — a fignificant fact ! 

Therefore, on the Pedigree in this book, 
that ftatement is accepted and believed, 
becaufe the author believes the draft was 
drawn under information provided by 
William Shakefpere himfelf ; and he be- 
lieves likewife that the man, with the 
chivalric feelings of a gentleman, would 
have fcorned to tell a lie. 

It 



136 New Place, 



It has been fuggefted that becaufe, as 
it will be feen, the Ardens ferved King 
Henry VII., Shakefpere was confounding 
his maternal with his paternal anceftors. 
So that we may take our choice as to 
whether, in the firft cafe, he was a 
liar; or, in the fecond, a fool. Pleafing 
alternatives for thofe who relifh them ! 
But it is to be hoped there are not 
wanting believers in the candour and 
truthfulnefs of the Poet; who, like 
Mr. C. Knight, in his "Biography," 
accept with credit the ftatement found 
in both the drafts, for which we muft 
hold Shakefpere himfelf refponfible, con- 
fidently believing that it was fupplied 
as information by him in the drawing 
of the firft draft of 1596, and repeated 
by Garter King in 1599. 

But what was the motive for Shake- 
fpere inftigating his father to obtain this 
grant ? It can hardly fail to be obvious 

to 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 137 

to any mind that is not tortuous. The 
author believes that the grant was fought 
with the fame motive that the early mar- 
riage was contracted, — that New Place 
was purchafed, — and that Shakefpere's will, 
finally, was made. It feems to him that 
in all thefe things, and in his wonderful 
mental activity and pofitive labour, there 
was the one noble, worthy, ambitious 
motive throughout : Shakefpere wifhed 
to found a family. He loved from his 
early days the honoured refpectability of 
an Englifh gentleman. He longed and 
defired that his family mould achieve a 
place among the gentry of Warwick- 
fhire. The ambition that we have fcen 
in the prefent century, at Abbotsford, was 
precifely what was feen at New Place in 
1597. Perhaps there is a more extended 
parallel between Scott and Shakelpere 
than this. Was there not the fame 
hiftoric feeling in both thefe men ? 

The 



138 New Place, 



The love for antiquity, for defcent, for 
heraldry, for chivalric ftory and incident, 
is confpicuous in each of them ! Shake - 
fpere's plays are hiftoric chronicles ; fo are 
Scott's novels. They prefent in a popular 
form, to the entrancement of the people, a 
moving fpeclacle of events of which many 
would otherwife be profoundly ignorant. 
It requires a peculiar fympathy of mind 
to deal with fuch fubjects, — and that 
thorough fympathy was inbred in the 
characters of Shakefpere and Scott. 

No carelefs reader of Shakefpere's 
works can poffibly mifs obferving the 
antiquary's tafte that pervades them. 
Let this be carried in memory, and the 
pride of anceftry, in the draft of the 
grant of arms, will be recognifed as 
his natural characteristic, and not as 
Dethick's invention. 

It will be obferved that the author 
treats with abfolute difbelief and dif- 

guft 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 139 

guft the " traditions" current concerning 
the Poet ; and he is impatient of them, 
becaufe he folemnly believes them to 
be injurious to the credit which the 
Man, as diftinct from the Poet, de- 
fences to enjoy among his countrymen. 
He believes that the known and authen- 
ticated facts of Shakefpere's life, taken by 
themfelves, prefent to us a Character to be 
refpected and loved, juft as much as his 
works do a Poet to be admired. Of thofe 
leading events of Shakefpere's life which 
have been fummarifed above, he conceives 
that, when any mind difengages itfelf from 
the mire of tradition, they can only be 
regarded in one light, — to his honour and 
fair fame. 

This is a mighty contrail: and contra- 
diction to the currently-received ftories 
about ftealing deer, marrying in fhame, 
and running away to London ! But thofe 
are ftories without confirmation or evi- 
dence. 



140 New Place, 



dence, and the author holds they are pofi- 
tively irreconcilable with the proved and 
authentic facts of Shakefpere's life, which 
uniformly exhibit him as an induftrious, 
high-minded, afpiring citizen, and a 
man ambitious of taking rank with the 
families of Englifh gentry. 

We are informed by Rowe, who gives 
the ftory on the authority of Sir William 
Davenant, that Lord Southampton, out of 
his great friendfhip for Shakefpere, pre- 
fented him with £1000, to enable him to 
make a purchafe for which he had a mind. 
This gift is fuppofed to have been made 
fome time fubfequent to the year 1593, 
when "Venus and Adonis" was published, 
and dedicated to his lordfhip ! 

We float aloft into a higher and purer 
atmofphere when we picture our Shake- 
fpere winning and holding fuch an "efpe- 
cial friend," — being focially connected 
with nich a man as Southampton ; and 

befriended 



Stratford- upon - Avon . 141 

befriended by William and Philip Herbert, 
Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery. 

Something too much has been written 
about the inferior pofition of the Poet; 
and that pofition has been kept down by 
the everlafting low-lived {lories with 
which his name has been begrimed. 

Shakefpere's genius needs no eulogies. 
It were to paint the lily to laud that. But 
Shake [per e — the man, the citizen, the high- 
minded polifhed gentleman, ambitious of 
pofition and afferting his title to aflbciate 
with gentlemen — this is a perfon of whom 
we have heard too little. From all that 
his biographers have commonly put be- 
fore us, we might naturally conclude that 
he was a fort of dramatic penny-a-liner, 
fcribbling by day from neceffity — at the 
point of the literary bayonet — the pen — 
a certain amount of "copy," the value of 
which was unknown to himfelf, and de- 
lighting at night in the fottifh fcciety of 

taverns. 



142 New Place, 



taverns. It may be that on thefe pages 
this picture of him is expofed in a broader 
and more glaring light than the public 
are accuftomed to fee it in. The author 
afferts that it is the true light ; and be- 
lieves that the focial and moral portraiture 
of the man, as painted by "tradition" (fifh- 
wives'goffip),is as grofs andprepofterous as 
he alfo believes every one of thofe daubs, 
(Chandos or otherwife), which are foifted 
on the public as likenerTes of the phyfical 
man, are like fign-painters' portraits, 
having far lefs relation to the original than 
the " Saracen's Head " had to Sir Roger 
de Coverley. Is there not more fatisfadtion 
in contemplating Shakefpere as the efpecial 
friend of Southampton, than as regarding 
him as the "hale-fellow, well-met" com- 
panion of the fwilling chaw-bacons of 
" Piping Pebworth, Dancing Marfton," 
&c. &c. ? 

Talk of reverence for this mighty 

man's 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 143 

man's works ! — it feems there is plenty 
of lack of reverence for the man himfelf. 

Let us afk ourfelves, when we prate 
about our love for the " Immortal Bard," 
where we find anything to juftify our 
bafe-born traditional rubbifh about that 
Immortal Man ? Shakefpere could not 
have acquired the independence he did, 
had he not been a fober, cleanly-living, 
thrifty man. 

Shakefpere could not have inftigated his 
father to acquire that coat-of-arms, had 
he not been an ambitious man : ambitious 
in the pureft and beft fenfe of that word 
— ambitious to raife himfelf in focial pofi- 
tion and refpecl:. 

Shakefpere would not have completed 
the purchafe of fuch a property as New 
Place, and have made it his permanent 
refidence, unlefs he had been what we 
now call commercially "a thoroughly 
refpectable man," anxious to take his 

place 



144 New Place > 



place amongft gentlemen, and to be 
efteemed as " generofus " in his own 
county. 

Every known Ja£t of his life goes to 
fupport thefe affertions. Let fact be 
weighed in the fcale with fable, and the 
meafure of the man will give us for 
refult a character to refpect, as well as 
a genius to admire. 

Something has been faid in allufion to 
Heraldry. There is one fource of indirect 
information regarding Shakefpere which 
has never as yet been thoroughly examined. 
Authors and biographers have riddled 
through the fieve of criticifm every grain 
of direct evidence regarding him, known 
of, and available. Clofe Rolls, Records, 
Inquifitions, Regifters, have furrendered 
their filent teftimonies. But Fines, Leafes, 
Sales, Births, Deaths, and Marriages, while 
they give us direct and pofitive know- 
ledge, do not give that indirect tefti- 

mony 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 45 

mony to be gathered from contemporary 
affociation. A Pedigree, quaint and for- 
mal as it may look, when well read and 
ftudied, may yet be found to guide the 
antiquary's fearch in fome direction 
rich with indirect, and leading perchance 
to the most direct, evidence regarding the 
Poet. 

As thefe lines are being penned, there 
lie before the writer twelve hundred 
clofely- written foolfcap fheets of War- 
wickfhire pedigrees and family hiftories, 
compiled by the late Rev. Thomas Warde, 
Vicar of Wefton-under- Wetherley and of 
Barford, Warwickihire. They are a part 
of the labour of a long life of an enthufi- 
aftic antiquary's refearch. They are inter- 
fperfed with pen-and-ink fk etches of an- 
cient Warwickihire timber-houfes, many 
of which are now deftroyed ; and their 
pages are crowded with the moft intereft- 
ing family and local records, fuch as have 

not 



146 New Place, 



not been collected together by any one 
fince Sir W. Dugdale publifhed his famous 
book, defpite its numerous errors. When 
the author firft perufed this MS., his 
intention was to quote from it largely ; 
but he has relinquished that idea, partly 
becaufe to do fo properly would have 
involved the publication of a work of 
magnitude ; and partly becaufe in doing 
fo it would have been robbing the MS. 
itfelf of riches, which, in the author's 
opinion, would have been like rifling the 
tomb of the dead of its treafure. Whole 
and undefiled the Rev. Mr. Warde's MS. 
mall remain, until fuch time as its pre- 
cious and Angularly interefting pages can 
be given entire to the public; though that 
portion of the public which takes intereft 
in fuch matters will grieve to hear that the 
documents now confided to the author's 
charge do not form more than a quarter 
of the number which once exifted, and 

perifhed 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 47 

perifhed in a fire in London fome years ago. 
From the pages of the fragment of twelve 
hundred meets ftill preferved, many items 
of information contained in this volume 
have been gathered ; and a ftore of detail 
regarding the Lucys, Underhills, Combes, 
Boughtons, Shirleys, Cloptons, Carews, 
Grevilles,Throckmortons, and others who 
lived in Shakefpere's time, has proved to 
the author the value of the opinion he 
now exprefTes, as to the wide field of 
indirect evidence ftill to be explored, 
calculated to convey moft interefting in- 
formation, that may lead to a far more 
perfect knowledge of Shakefpere himfelf 
than the prefent age pofTefTes. 

The names juft given (and many others 
of the Warwickshire gentry might be 
added), when we ftudy them by the help 
of the College of Arms, are found linked 
together by intermarriages, bringing be- 
fore us curious and interefting facts elfe- 

where 



148 New Place, 



where unattainable ; and repeopling the 
pari: by fuch aid, we are enabled to fur- 
round Shakefpere with the forms and 
figures of men and women who, in the 
nature of things, muft have known him 
well, and been known by him. The 
names of Sir Thomas Lucy, William 
Combe, Sir Thomas Throckmorton, and 
Fulke Greville pafs before us as Mem- 
bers for the county of Warwick. By 
turning to the Clopton Pedigree, we find 
John Combe married to Rofe Clopton, 
of Clopton.* On the tomb of Judith 
Combe, in Stratford, we find the arms of 
Combe quartered with Underhill, and the 
hiftory of the two families puts before us 
the intermarriages. In the fame way we 
learn of the alliance between the daugh- 
ter of Sir Stephen Hales, the contem- 
porary of Shakefpere, and Edward Combe. 

Again, 



Appendix J. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 49 

Again, the grandfon of Thomas Underhill 
married the daughter of Sir William Lucy. 
And again, Jocofa, or Joyce Clopton 
(three years younger than Shakefpere, 
born 1568), married George Carew, 
afterwards Earl of Totnefs. Thefe were 
people affociated with Stratford, with 
many of whom Shakefpere muft have 
been familiar. The Combes, the Under- 
bills, the Cloptons, the Carews, it may 
be afferted without any hefitation, were 
his friends. What does the world know 
of thefe people? It has heard John 
Combe libelled as a ufurer; and been told 
that he was Shakefpere's friend until the 
Poet lampooned him. It has learned 
that the Earl of Totnefs was a brave 
foldier. And this is all. The evidence 
of John Combe's regard for Shakefpere 
has paled before a doggrel verfe. The 
evidence of Shakefpere's attachment to 
the Combes has been made nothing of. 

The 



150 New Place, 



The fact that Lord Totnefs, living at 
Clopton Houfe, was a man of letters and 
an author, has efcaped notice beyond the 
record of the fact itfelf. And the ftory 
that Lord Southampton prefented Shake- 
fpere with £1000 to complete a purchafe 
on which he had fet his heart, has never, 
it is believed, been pointed at the acquire- 
ment of New Place. 

When people have been fufficiently 
naufeated with the fentimental rubbiih 
with which the prefs has teemed about 
the " Immortal Bard," and when the 
tap-room talk, yclept tradition, has been 
poured out into the gutter with its kin- 
dred dregs, the healthy and honeft re- 
fearches of the good and true fearchers of 
this age after fact, will lead to the gather- 
ing of new materials for writing the hif- 
tory of Shakefpere. In fo doing it will 
be well to furround him with the focial 
facts of Stratford at the time when he lived, 

having 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 151 

having ftripped him of the fables of half a 
century after he died. It is furely more pro- 
fitable to know the perfons among whom 
he dwelt, than to liflen to the loofe ftate- 
ments of people that he never faw. In- 
quiries about his contemporaries may bring 
us to difcover fomething about him ; but 
if they never teach us anything pofitive as 
to his hiftory, there is fome fatisfadlion in 
contemplating the men and women who 
had the privilege of his acquaintance. 

Let us glance at one or two of the 
Stratford worthies of the Shakefperian 
age. 

There were three houfes which we of 
the prefent generation would give much 
to have refcued from deftruclion : New 
Place, the Poet's home ; the College of 
Stratford, the home of his friend John a 
Combe ; Clopton Houfe, the home of the 
Cloptons and Carews. Of thefe three, 
two have utterly perifhed : the third, 

Cloptoi* 



152 New Place, 



Clopton Houfe, exifts as it was recon- 
ftrudted by Sir Edward Walker (F) in the 
time of Charles II. Happily one morfel 
of the original houfe, built in the time 
of Henry VII., has been fpared. It ftands 
at the back of the prefent manfion, and 
was a porch-way entrance acrofs the 
ancient moat. One hundred and forty 
years have paifed away fince a Sir Hugh 
Clopton (H), and withal a Herald of the 
College of Arms, deftroyed the houfe in 
which Shakefpere died. The prefent 
generation, therefore, has been robbed of 
nothing which it has contemplated and 
pofTerTed. Not fo with the College. 
That venerable ftructure, erected in the 
reign of Edward III. by Ralph de 
Stratford, Bifhop of London, and adjoin- 
ing the yard of Stratford Church, was 
fhamefully deftroyed within the memory 
of living men. This monaftic eftablifh- 
ment had been " embellifhed " at the 
* front 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 153 

front towards the church, with Georgian 
facing ; but at the back it ftill retained 
many of its mediaeval architectural 
features. Unfortunately, in the year 
1796, it was fold to one Edmund 
Batterfbee, a man who had made money 
in Manchefter, and curfed Stratford by 
fettling there. The MS. records in the 
author's truft, allude to the College as 
follows : — 

"In 1797, the furniture of this 
" manfion, the College, was difpofed of 
" by auction, together with a collection 
" of paintings. Many of them were very 
" curious, ancient, and valuable ; and 
" fome very interesting family portraits, 
" which were, unfortunately for the 
" antiquary, fold and difperfed. Whole 
" lengths of Queen Elizabeth, Charles II. 
" and his Queen, Louis XIII. and his 
" Queen. Charles II. and his Queen, 
" Louis and his, are now in the Town 

" Hall 



154 New Place, 



" Hall at Lichfield, having been purchafed 
" for a trifle each, for Mr. Green's 
" mufeum in that town, and fince its 
" being difcontinued, thefe pictures— not 
"finding a purchafer! — have been all 
" hung up in the Town Hall. Full 
" length paintings of George, Prince of 
" Denmark, George I., and II. alfo de- 
" corated this antique manfion. A large 
"piece, bearing the date 1641. A half- 
" length portrait of Juxon, Bifhop of 
" London, who attended the unfortunate 
" King Charles I. to the fcaffold. This 
" painting very likely was an original, as 
" the pious Bifhop, at the time of the 
" ufurpation of Cromwell, retired to his 
" houfe at Little Compton, in Gloucef- 
" terfhire, which is not far from Strat- 
" ford. A very beautiful half-length 
" portrait of Lady Radnor, and innume- 
" rable family portraits ! and others too 
" numerous to mention. 

" This 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 155 

" This venerable manfion, — which had 
" exifted through a lapfe of 446 years, 
" and fince the fuppreffion of the religious 
" houfes in the reign of Henry VIII. 
" had been the refidence of feveral very 
" honourable families, — was now doomed 
" to fall, and its ancient walls to be 
" pulled down to the ground, though the 
" whole of the manfion was in perfect 
" repair, and fome parts of it fitted up in 
" the modern ftyle by its purchafer, who 
" very unfortunately had purchafed it. 
" Being an entire flranger to the town of 
" Stratford, having lately purchafed the 
" houfe {landing near the large gates of 
" the entrance to the church, where he 
" refided, and having more money than 
" any regard for venerable antiquity, or 
" any refpefl: for antiquarian lore, or the 
" ancient porTefibrs of this noble manfion, 
" he, tradefman-like, — for he was a Man- 
" chefter tradefman, — not liking that the 

" ground 



156 New Place, 



" ground facing his own houfe mould be 
" encumbered with fuch an old anti- 
" quated building, determined to have the 
" whole pulled down, like Mr. Gaftrell, 
" who deftroyed the famous mulberry- 
" tree. By the taking down of this an- 
" cient pile the town of Stratford had to 
" lament the deprivation of one of the 
" chief and greateft ornaments. But Mr. 
" Batterfbee, regardlefs of public opinion, 
" and delirous of the land on which it 
" ftood, to make ufe of part for a kitchen- 
" garden and the reft for pafture for his 
" cattle, deftroyed the whole of the old 
" College in 1800. Sic tranfit, &c." 

The above quotation has been made in 
full, that the reader may have a fpecimen 
of the ruthlefs manner in which, little 
more than half a century ago, the moft 
interefting family reliques were difperfed, 
and the houfe in which Shakefpere had 
fpent many an hour with the Combes and 

the 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 157 

the Cloptons was deftroyed ! Can it be 
that when old fwords, and halberds, 
and rufting antiquities were turned out 
with the pots and kettles, Shakefpere's 
fword went along with them ? It is 
quite pojjible. 

Pafs we on now to Clop ton Houfe, 
which, happily, remains. As before 
ftated, one remnant of the antique 
Shakerperian edifice ftill ftands : the re- 
mainder of the manfion being Carolean. 
Neftling under the weftern fweep of Wel- 
combe Hills, the Hopes rich with verdure, 
dotted with copfes, and fhadowed with 
ancient trees, among which the deer feed, 
ftands Clopton Houfe. As we look upon 
that folitary remnant of the Tudor Houfe, 
we feel a thrill of pleafure in the con- 
viction that under its portal Shakefpere 
and his friends muft have parTed fcores of 
times. The moat ran directly in front of 
it, and was a few years back difturbed, in 

order 



158 New Place, 



order to lay fome modern foundations. 
Various trifling reliques of by-gone days 
were recovered, and among others three 
fack-bottles of ftunted form, made of 
the coarfeft glafs. Two of them had the 
creft of Combe upon them. There is a 
theme for a reverie ! Sack from the Col- 
lege, taken up to the Houfe! Was it an 
offering from John a Combe to Lord 
Totnefs ? Was it a fpecial prefent at 
fome Chriftmas time, when the lips of 
the Lady Joyce or the Poet pledged the 
cup, and did honour to the " Boar's 
" Head ? T Who can tell ? The empty 
bottles funk in the mud of a moat for 
centuries come back to light, and tell us on 
what friendly terms the families of Combe 
and Clopton were, in the days when they 
pledged the toaft in fack.* 

There 

* One of thefe bottles is now in poffeilion of the 
author. From the length of time that it has been 
buried, it has acquired thofe prifmatic colours which 
grow upon glafs under the foil. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 159 

There is but one place left which, in 
its reliques and affociations, brings Shake- 
fpere vividly back to the imagination, and 
that is Clopton Houfe ! 

We enter its noble hall, with receffed 
bay-window full of the Clopton coats of 
arms, and running our eyes round the 
walls we light upon the manly, maffive 
head of George Carew, Lord Totnefs. 
There hangs his portrait as frefh, and in 
as fine prefervation as the day it was 
painted."* There, too, are numerous 
members of the Clopton family — Joyce, 
the Countefs, venerable men, and noble 
ladies, coming down in fucceffion to Mr. 
and Mrs. Partheriche. There is a fplen- 
did original of the " Lady Elizabeth," 

Cromwell's 



* There are two portraits of Lord Carew at Clopton 
Houfe. The one here referred to came from Alton 
Hall, Birmingham ; the other, which has always been 
in the houfe, hangs in one of the galleries. Both 
pictures feem to have been painted at one date, and 
the treatment is the fame ; but the Alton is in far the 
belt prefervation. 



160 New Place, 



Cromwell's mother : and a moft intereft- 
ing painting of the river front of White- 
hall Palace in the days of the Stuarts. 
Among a multitude of others, is a beau- 
tiful portrait of Sir Edward Walker, wear- 
ing his badge of Garter King. 

In turning over the papers and MSS. 
of Clopton Houfe the author met with 
an ancient written and emendated copy of 
the third part of " Jewel's Apology ! " 

What ftory could this manufcript tell! 
It is in the handwriting of the time of 
Mary and Elizabeth. Whofe was the 
book? Could it ever have belonged to 
Jewel himfelf, or was it made for fome 
member of this Clopton family ? Who 
can guefs ? 

Perhaps the moft precious book of all 
at Clopton is a fmall volume by Richard 
Pynfon — a collection of Statutes. It is 
as complete and perfect as the day it 
iffued from the prefs of the King's Printer. 

This 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 1 6 1 

This book tranfports us back to Shake- 
fpere's own times. It was in his day 
exactly what we fee it now. Whence it 
came, whofe it was, none can tell. But 
it is among the old books and papers 
of fuch a place as Clopton that we 
beft like to meet with fuch a book. 
Tumbling about in unknown nooks and 
corners there may yet be found other 
fuch, and more direct evidences connected 
both with the Poet's period and the Poet 
himfelf. Here, at leaft, is one book pub- 
limed before Shakefpere's birth, which we 
find preferved not only in Warwickfhire, 
but in the very houfe with which all his 
circle of friends is affociated. Let the 
fact fpeak for itfelf. 

From the houfes let us glance at their 
mailers and miftrerTes ! 

Much ftrefs has been laid upon heraldic 
refearch, and the author, — it may be fome- 
what boldly, but, neverthelefs, very iin- 

cerely, — 



1 62 New Place, 



cerely, — has expreffed not merely his 
opinion about the value of heraldic re- 
cords, upon which there needs no opinion 
to be expreffed ; but his conviction that 
there is yet much knowledge to be gained 
from refearches, to which a comparifon of 
the Warwickfhire pedigrees of Shake- 
fpere's age, would lead the inquirer. In 
preparing thefe pages for the Prefs, the 
examination of the Viiitations has led the 
author again and again upon the track of 
information of which he was previoufly 
in utter ignorance. May not the fame 
refult await other inquirers ? Moreover, 
we experience a frefhened intereft when 
we gain a knowledge of the perfons who 
furround the Poet in familiar intercourfe. 
That marriage regifter — 

" 1561. June 4. — Johannes Combes, GenerosuSj 
" et Rosa Cloptonne " — 

brings Shakefpere into connection with 
the great folk at Clopton from his earlien: 

years. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 163 

years. Rofe was married the year after 
her father died, and her brother William 
had come into pofTeffion. She was mif - 
trefs of the College during the firft fifteen 
years of the Poet's life, and as fhe watched 
him growing, and fawhim attain his fourth 
year, fhe would hear the news from the 
Houfe that her brother's wife had brought 
him a little girl — duly chriftened Jocofa 
or Joyce. This was the future Countefs. 
The Poet would be juft old enough to 
remember her being born, the year after 
William Underhill, Efquire, had come to 
refide at New Place. The boy and girl 
grew up to man's and woman's eftate, 
familiar with the fame people and having 
the fame friends. In 1575, Queen Eliza- 
beth arrived at Kenilworth, and Matter 
Langham, in his letter to Mafter Martin 
defcribing the Queen's vifit, difcovered 
that " Olid Hags, prying into every place, 
" are az fond of nuelltiez az yoong girls 

" that 



164 New Place, 



" that had never feen Coourt afore." 
Then did the men of Coventree make 
petition that they *' moought renue now 
" their old Storical Sheaw," — " of late 
" laid dooun they knoe no cawz why, 
" onlefs it wear by the zeal of certain 
" theyr preacherz. Men very commend- 
" able for their behaviour and learning, 
" and fweet in their fermons, but fome- 
" what too four in preaching awey theyr 
" Paftime."* 

Among the young girls who had never 
feen Court afore we may probably reckon 
Joyce Clopton, for the author has dis- 
covered, among the pedigree MSS. in his 
cuftody, that at an early age Joyce was 

appointed 



* A curious MS. copy of the celebrated "Letter 
" wherein part of the Entertainment unto the Queen'z 
" Majefty at Killingwoorth Caftl : in Warwickfheer in 
"this Soomerz Progreft, 15J5, is flgnified," is in the 
author's poffeilion. The writer notes " this manufcript 
"is valuable." The author's name is given, Langham. 
Mr. Knight calls him " the entertaining coxcomb, 
" Laneham." 



Stratford- upon- Avon. 165 

appointed a Maid of Honour to Queen 
Elizabeth, being " a great favourite and 
" remarkable for her virtues." Moft 
likely the Queen firft faw the little girl, 
aged feven, on this memorable occa- 
fion, when William Clopton (C), her 
father, came to Kenilworth to do honour 
to Leicefter. However this may be, the 
lithe Joyce muft have been brought about 
the Queen's perfon at a very youthful 
period, for young George Carew, a Cap- 
tain in the army, met her, made love to 
her, and married her without her father's 
knowledge when me was 1 9 years of age ! 
" Mr. Clopton was greatly difpleafed 
" with his daughter's marriage with Cap- 
" tain Carew, which was without his 
" knowledge and confent, and intended to 
" difinherit her. But upon an accidental 
" meeting and converfing with Captain 
" Carew, he found him a man of fuperior 
" genius and fine addrefs, which quali- 

" fications 



1 66 New Place, 



" fications fo effectually recommended 
" him to his favour that he was recon- 
" ciled, and fettled his eftate at Clopton, 
" which was very confiderable, upon him 
" and his daughter." 

By reference to the Pedigree, it will be 
found that Clopton House was in the 
poffeffion of three perfons during the 
whole of Shakefpere's life. William 
Clopton (C) inherited it three years 
before the Poet's birth, and enjoyed it 
until 1592, when Shakefpere was 28 
years of age. Joyce and her hufband 
fucceeded, and long outlived the Poet. 

In thefe three perfons we have indi- 
viduals of rank, importance, and intel- 
lectual power. The traditions which 
affociate Shakefpere with Clopton Houfe 
would be of little value, were it not that 
they are finger-pofts directing us to in- 
quiries which give us every confidence 
that he was fo affociated. The Combes, 

Cloptons, 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 167 

Cloptons, Underhills, Boughtons (of 
Lawford), we find linked together by 
family ties and focial bonds. In the midft 
of them, in the " Great Houfe," that had 
belonged to the families of two of them, 
Shakefpere refided. It is a happy, plea- 
fant picture that the mind creates for 
itfelf, as in imagination it repeoples the 
College, and New Place, and Clopton 
Houfe, and the neighbouring refidences of 
Idlicote and Boughton. We feem to fee 
our Shakefpere enjoying, and enjoyed in, 
fuch fociety. When we turn to the Pedi- 
gree, and learn what was the character 
and fame of George Carew, Earl of Tot- 
nefs, we can conceive in the brave foldier's 
periods of leave and repofe how greatly 
he would appreciate fuch converfation as 
he might find in New Place. Carew 
was himfelf an author, and efleemed 
a literary character in his day. Being 
fent by James I., in 1609, on an embaffy 

to 



1 68 New Place, 



to France, he drew up on his return a 
relation of the ftate of that country, and 
gave portraitures of Henri Quatre, and of 
the principal people about the Court. 
He alfo wrote the " Pacata Tlibernia" a 
hiftory of the wars in Ireland, which 
Bifhop Nicholfon fays contained the tran- 
factions of three years of much fighting, in 
Munfter, from the latter end of the year 
1599 to the death of Queen Elizabeth. 
He alfo tranflated into Englifh a hiftory of 
Iriih affairs, written by Maurice Regan, 
a fervant of the King of Leinfter, in the 
year 1171; the MS. of which work 
was formerly in the library of the Duke 
of Chandos. 

Without purfuing the records of pedi- 
grees further, it is to be hoped that 
enough has been brought forward to 
anfwer the queftion at page 105, which 
the author fuppofed being put to him. 

It is true there is no pofitive and direct 

evidence 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 169 

evidence that Shakefpere ever affociated 
with many of the perfons that have been 
named. Heaven forbid that there ever 
mould be found any direct evidence that 
he affociated with any of the perfons into 
whofe fociety he is degraded by tradition ! 

But which is the truftier of the two — 
the fair and natural conclufions which the 
mind draws from the contemplation of 
contemporaneous facts ; or the idle, loofe, 
and fhifting ftories of perfons who had 
never feen the Poet, or could fpeak a 
word from their own knowledge ? 

Shakefpere's character, read by the 
offenfive taper-light of village goffip, is 
not the character which the ftudent of 
his works would expect to meet, and be 
miferably difappointed if he did not meet. 

The weights and meafures of con- 
fcience — the things fhe approves, or dis- 
approves — have one eternal, unchanging 
ftandard. In every age there is the fame 

fenfe 



170 New Place, 



fenfe of right and wrong, clean and un- 
clean, fober and diffolute. Shakefpere 
either was or was not a man to love and 
refpedt, as well as a Poet to admire. If 
he fank fo low as to have his paftime 
with tipplers and drunkards, then our 
diminifhed regard tarnifhes the bril- 
liancy of our admiration. But if there is 
abfolutely no evidence whatever to prove 
aught againft the man ; if deer ftealing, 
and vagabondiiing, and hard drinking 
are unfupported by a fingle eftablifhed, 
proved fact ; and if, on the contrary, they 
are Angularly at variance with what are 
the known faffis of this great man's life, it 
is but juft to his memory, and giving 
him the honour which is his due, if we 
fcout with contempt the wrencings of 
tap-tubs and the vulgar goffip of clowns. 
The view of Shakefpere's life and 
character which the writer takes, is 
not drawn from imagination, prefent- 

ing 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 171 

ing an outline which will admit of 
no faults. It is eafy to mount a Pe- 
gafus, and foar aloft on the wings of 
grandiloquent words about his genius, 
and his poetry, and his dramatic fkill. 
It is the profaic, and not the fentimental, 
view of the man Shakeipere with which 
thefe pages are engaged. It is Shake- 
fpere's Home which is their concern. 
Planting our feet on a few acres of land, 
under the fhadow of Holy Crofs, in 
Stratford, the object is to know as much 
as poffible about that home hiflorically 
and focially, and to know what the man 
was who inhabited it. 

His ambition to acquire poffeffion of 
New Place was as honourable and laud- 
able as it feems natural. Was not John 
Shakefpere, the Poet's father, engaged in 
the fame trade as the great Sir Hugh 
Clopton, however wide the difference in 
the extent of their dealings ? That Great 

Houfe 



172 New Place, 



Houfe had been the London mercer's 
home. It had belonged to the man 
who made his money in Old Jewry and 
the Cheape. Before Shakefpere fet out 
for London, when his father was in dif- 
ficulties, he very probably took a linger- 
ing look at the houfe, — took courage 
from the memory of the man who had 
lived in it, — and fet out for London town 
with a ftern determination to win inde- 
pendence himfelf, and return to live in 
Stratford, enjoying it. Let us review the 
circumftances of his life, and we fhall 
find all this is moft natural, and harmo- 
nifes with what we know are facts. His 
running away to London, like a thief, 
to efcape Sir Thomas Lucy, is a wretched, 
crack-brained ftory, bafed upon no fact 
whatever ; but invented folely to try and 
make out a reafon for Shakefpere's going, 
when a natural and fufficient reafon laid 
clofe at hand. 

Lord 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 173 

Lord Southampton gave him £1000 
to complete fome purchafe he greatly 
defired. There was a purchafe com- 
pleted, and probably completed in a hurry, 
for the vendor fold in Eafter term, and 
was dead in July ! May not Lord South- 
ampton's money have been given for this 
particular purpofe ? And when Shake- 
fpere was fettled at New Place, what are 
the evidences, the fadis, we know of 
him ? They uniformly go to prove that 
he was a careful, induftrious, money- 
making man, feeking to acquire property 
and to found a family. His proper 
ambition is difcoverable in every move- 
ment of his life: in his acquirement cf 
New Place ; in his grant of arms by the 
College ; in his will ; in his various pur- 
chafes of property ; and, laft of all, in the 
fociety of the perfons with whom we 
conclude, both by pofitive and alfo by 
indirect evidence, that he affociated. 

As 



174 New Place, 



As we tread the garden of New Place, 
and recall the mighty dead that once 
trod that fame plot of earth, and called 
it his, let thofe who love to think of 
him as the Poet, think of him alfo as the 
Gentleman. The idle talk of men who 
never knew him has wafted down to us 
unproved and difcreditable ftories. At 
his threfhold, when we enter New Place, 
let us make them, with the duft, from 
off our feet. Shakefpere's honeft, anxious 
life deferves better from us than a readi- 
nefs to hear him defamed. As we tread 
his garden let us think of him, and judge 
of him by what we know of him. It is 
not much, indeed, but it may fome day 
be more. Such evidence as we have, all 
tells in his favour. It prefents to us a 
man with goodly ambition raifing him- 
felf and his family to prefent indepen- 
dence, and to everlafting fame. It pre- 
fents to us a cautious, careful labourer — 

a 



Stratford- upon-Avo?z. 175 

a painftaking artift, a moft fkilful anato- 
mift of human nature. It prefents to us 
no hurried fcribbler of plays, careleffly 
throwing off, without an idea of their 
beauty, the teeming imaginations of his 
brain, as it has been impudently afferted ; 
but a man who chaftened his mufe with 
fevere caftigation, and applied himfelf 
through life with unhalting felf-devo- 
tion, not only to feek out the treafures of 
thought, but to polifh, and fet his gems 
in fuch marvellous frameworks of plot, 
as in Othello, Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth, 
that the world has gazed thefe three 
hundred years with admiration and de- 
light upon his wondrous workmanihip. 

And when we tread his garden let us 
think of him as the greateft, loftieft 
teacher of mankind who has ever fpoken 
with uninfpired lips. " There are," faid 
Watfon, Bifhop of Llandaff (to the late 
Duke of Rutland, when retiring from his 

tutorfhip), 



176 New Place, 



tutorfhip), " two books to adhere to in 
" your future life ; one is the Book of the 
" Child of God ; the other the Book of 
" the Child of Nature." 

From Shakefpere's House at New 
Place, many of the pages of that book 
went forth to the world; and in that 
garden, among its trees and flowers, their 
thoughts were meditated. Let us honour 
his memory where his very prefence 
feems to overfhadow us. 

" A gleam of daylight Jet 

Will gild the cloud of eve ; 
And the foul's light linger yet 
O'er the place itfighed to leave.'' 9 



In writing about Shakefpere, inches of 
fact have been fringed with acres of 
conjecture. When once an author has 
entered upon the field of conjecture he 
can wander along at his will, unchecked 

and 



Stratford-upon-Avon. i yj 

and unhindered ! But if conjecture is 
fuggeftive of inquiry, where inquiry may 
not have been fufficiently made, perhaps 
it is not altogether worthlefs. 

Where did Shakefpere obtain his 
knowledge ? That queftion has been 
afked by every ftudent of his works, and 
has never yet been fatisfactorily anfwered. 

Ben Jonfon afferted that he had 
" fmall Latine, and leffe Greeke," by 
which, it is to be prefumed, he meant to 
ftate that Shakefpere had received the 
rudiments of a claffical education, without 
being diftinguifhed as a fcholar. Such a 
conclufion might be fairly arrived at from 
a ftudy of his plays. But though he 
might not have been able to tranflate the 
Medea or Antigone with eafe, it does not 
admit of a doubt, that in fome way or 
other, and at an early age, he muft have 
read extenfively — perhaps indifcrimi- 
nately. 

At 



178 New Place, 



At eighteen he married. The youth, 
whether he was a lawyer's clerk, or appren- 
ticed to bufinefs, had finifhed his curri- 
culum at fchool before that event. We 
are confequently reduced to the neceffity 
of confidering his " education " (techni- 
cally fo called) as finifhed when he was 
feventeen years of age. Had he acquired 
the mafs of information with which his 
mind was ftored, previous to that date ? 
or, during the labours of author and 
adtor in London, did he find time to 
purfue the cultivation of his mind, as 
well as to inform himfelf of the data 
and hiftorical fa6ls regarding any par- 
ticular play which he was going to 
write? A diftinguifhed magiftrate of 
the prefent day once anfwered the writer of 
thefe lines (on his exprefling furprife at the 
minutely accurate information difplayed 
by a popular novelift regarding the local 
hiftory and hiftorical records of a place he 

had 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 179 

had never vifited), " Oh ! give a man a 
" fortnight at the Britifh Mufeum and he 
" will get up any period or place you 
" pleafe." No doubt there is much truth 
in this remark ; but, imprimis, Shakefpere 
had no Britifh Mufeum to which he could 
refer ; and, in the next place, the know- 
ledge he difplays in Romeo, Hamlet, 
Macbeth, or any of the plays, the plots of 
which he borrowed from hiftorical books, 
tracts, or ftories he had read, is of a very 
much deeper and profounder character, 
than refults from curfory reading. It is 
not the knowledge of a " common-place 
" book/' or a " cram," but the refult of 
keen obfervation and clofe ftudy. 

Not in the technical, but in the broaden: 
fenfe of the term "education," infuffi- 
cient inquiry has been made, as to how, 
or by what means, Shakefpere became 
felf-educated ? for it does not admit of 
difpute that his profound knowledge of 

human 



180 New Place, 



human nature, and his marvellous capa- 
city for the acquifition of facts, were the 
refult of felf-cultivation. No grammar 
fchool of King Edward VI. instructed 
a boy's mind as Shakefpere's mind was 
inftructed. 

Conjecture fpeculates as to how he 
gained his information ? 

Suggeftion, with a furmife, may inquire 
whether the hiftory of the " Guild " at 
Stratford has ever been narrowly fcruti- 
nifed, with a view to arriving at a con- 
clufion. 

Shakefpere's lines in the Third Act 
of the Twelfth Night have been repeatedly 
quoted : — 

Maria. Hes in yellow Jlockings. 
Sir Tobt. And cr of s- gartered. 
Maria. Mojl villainoufly ; like a pedant that keeps 
a fchool i the church. 

Whether Shakefpere had his own pre- 
ceptor before his mind's eye, may be 
doubted ; but there can be no doubt that 

he 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 1 8 1 

he alludes to a cuftom of his time, which 
had come under his own obfervation, 
which was the very common habit of 
holding public fchools in the Lady chapels, 
or chancels of churches which had for- 
merly been connected with monaftic eftab- 
lifhments. 

There are many perfons alive who have 
belonged to fchools kept in the church — 
as,forinftance,the Queen Elizabeth School, 
which was held in the Lady chapel of 
St. Mary Redcliffe at Briftol, and in which 
they received their education. Schools in 
the church were not uncommon. The 
fchool at St. Alban's continues to be held in 
the Lady chapel of that ftupendous Nor- 
man abbey, to the prefent hour. A fchool 
was kept (perhaps ftill is) in the Triforium 
of Chrift Church, Hants. The college 
fchool at Worcefter alfo has been held in a 
noble hall within the Cathedral precincts. 
A long lift of fuch fchools in the church 

might 



1 82 New Place, 



might be given. But there is one re- 
markable fadt connected with them ; they 
have, as a general rule, been eftablifhed or 
held in the Lady chapels, or chapels of 
fuppreffed monaftic inftitutions, and not in 
buildings that were parochial churches 
before the Reformation. In connection 
with thefe fuppreffed monafteries, or cells, 
there were frequently valuable libraries, 
rich in ancient chronicles, tales of the 
wars, hiftories of royal heroes and valiant 
knights, as well as in the lives of the 
faints, miffals, and breviaries. 

Such an eftablifhment was the Guild of 
the Holy Crofs. Henry VIII. fuppreffed 
its conventual character. His fon Ed- 
ward VI. erected it into a grammar fchool. 
The Corporation records of Stratford prove 
that the chancel of the Guild Chapel was 
ufed as a " fchool i' the church," and it 
is altogether uncertain whether fuch ufe 
was continuous or temporary. Mr. Halli- 

well 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 183 

well and others imagine it was temporary, 
founding their opinions upon probabilities 
as they fuggeft themfelves to their minds 
from an examination of the Corporation 
books. The items of allowances there 
alluded to in 1568 are: — " for repayryng 
" the fcole ; " " for dreflyng and fweepyng 
" the fcole houfe ; " " for ground and 
" fellynge in the olde fcole ; " " for takyng 
" doun the foller over the fcole." Mr. 
Halliwell comments upon this — "This 
" laft entry would alone feem to prove 
" that the fchool was not then in the 
" chapel, but in another building." 

The difference in the terms of deligna- 
tion feems to warrant the opinion that 
there may have been an intended dif- 
tinction between the "fcole" and "olde 
" fcole." The ufe of the word " olde " 
appears to lignify that there were two 
fchool -rooms, or places of teaching, 
belonging to the one " Grammar School," 

anfwering 



184 New Place, 



anfwering probably to what is called in 
the prefent day, the upper and lower 
fchool. And if the chancel of the 
Guild Chapel had lately been appro- 
priated for fcholaftic purpofes, it was very 
natural in the Chamberlain's accounts, to 
defcribe the fchool-room in the monaftic 
buildings of the ancient guild as " the 
" olde fcole." It was the trueft defcrip- 
tion, for the fame place had been " a 
"fcole" for fifty-two years previous to 
the fuppreflion of the monafteries, having 
been founded in the laft year of the reign 
of Edward IV., 1482, by a Thomas 
Jolyffe, under charge and control of the 
Guild of the Holy Crofs. 

There is another entry and date in the 
Corporation books, of great importance. 
In February, 1594, an order directs, that 
there fhall be no fchool kept in the 
chapel from that date. It will be fair to 
conclude, that up to that year, from the 

new 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 185 

new foundation of the fchool in the 7th 
year of the reign of Edward VI., 1553, 
the Guild Chapel had been ufed for 
fchool-teaching ; and in all probability 
about that date, the " olde fcole " had 
fuch additional accommodation given to 
it, that it was no longer neceffary to appro- 
priate the Guild Chapel to fuch a pur- 
pofe. Whether it was habitually ufed 
as a fchool from 1554 to 1594 (as 
the Lady chapel of St. Alban's ftill is, 
and St. Mary Redcliffe was until lately), 
is of no great moment, becaufe diftindl 
evidence proves, that, whether occafionally 
or habitually » to fuch ufe it was devoted 
during the years when Shakefpere was 
at fchool, and (fuppofing he continued at 
fchool until he was fixteen) for fourteen 
years fubfequently. 

It may yet be difcovered that greater 
impreffions were produced upon the mind 
of the boy Shakefpere by the advan- 
tages 



1 86 New Place, 



tages he derived from the " fchool i' the 
" church," than have ever been fuggefted 
by commentators upon his life! Many 
obfcurities have of late years been cleared 
up, by a careful perufal of documents 
hitherto neglected. 

There are poffibly in exiftence many 
documents, which, if difcovered, would 
throw a flood of light upon the bufinefs 
of his manhood and his authorfhip, that 
remain for the prefent fhrouded in 
obfcurity. Probably enough, on that 
night in June, 1613, when Burbage was 
performing Henry VIIL in the Globe 
Theatre, Blackfriars, and the thatched 
roof catching fire, the entire building was 
deftroyed, many MSS., plays, and note- 
books of the Poet's, may have perifhed in 
the flames, which would have fet at reft 
the unfatisfaclory queftion — How did 
Shakefpere acquire his varied, profound, 
and alfo defultory knowledge ? 

The 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 187 

The inquiry feems to force us to one 
or other of two conclufions : either he 
enjoyed peculiar advantages from the 
" fchool 1 the church " which could not 
be derived from the ordinary crofs- 
gartered pedants' routine of Hie, Hcec, Hoc, 
or he muft have been enabled, by Lord 
Southampton, or fome other influential 
perfon, to obtain accefs to a library in 
London. At the prefent moment, in the 
utter abfence of all dired: evidence upon 
the fubjedt, we are thrown back upon pro- 
babilities, and the indirect internal evi- 
dence of Shakefpere's writings. They 
appear to bear a twofold witnefs in favour 
both of Stratford and London ; but fuch 
knowledge as fo bufy a man could acquire 
in London, was much more likely to be 
obtained for the occafion, and ftudied in 
hiftories and chronicles hurriedly, in order 
to conftrud: the plots of his pieces, than 
to be of that profound and equally dif- 

curfive 



New Place, 



curfive character, which remains to the 
prefent time the admiration and equally 
the puzzle of the world. In the plays 
which we know that Shakefpere wrote, 
when one of the " owners " or " partners " 
of the Globe Theatre, and in the full 
ftrain of mental and phyfical exertion, 
we do find an immenfe amount of that 
" knowledge of a period " before alluded 
to, which is rather the bufinefs of a 
fearcher of records, than of a ftudent of 
literature. This, after all, is the mere 
fkeleton of a play. The flefh and life 
that clothe thofe dry bones of history, 
could not be fo read-up or crammed. 
The plays of Henry IF. and Henry VI. 
may ferve for example. No Garter- 
King-at-Arms, no F.S.A. could fupply us 
with more accurate knowledge of defcent 
and pedigree, than do fuch fpeeches as 
thofe of Mortimer (Firft Part Henry VL> 
Ad: ii.), and of the Duke of York (Second 

Part 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 189 

Part Henry VL, A& ii.). No hiftorian 
could fketch character more admirably, 
or render narrative more tranfparent, than 
do the princes and prelates who fpeak 
in Ad: iv. Second Part of Henry IV. But 
while fuch knowledge might have been 
ftudied for the purpofe, let it be remem- 
bered that this fame Adt is world-famous 
for a knowledge of a very different cha- 
racter — a knowledge of human nature, 
exhibited in the two phafes of high and or- 
dinary life, — King Henry and the Prince ; 
and Juftice Shallow, Falftaff, and Bar- 
dolph, — in itfelf fufficient to have eftab- 
lifhed the fame of a humorift or fatirift 
of any age. It is not a queftion of pro- 
bability, but a known fact, that Shake- 
fpere did model the ikeletons of many of 
his plays upon the chronicles which he 
read while actively occupied at the Globe 
Theatre. Still, that does not account 
for the flefh, and blood, and life, with 

which 



190 New Place, 



which they are quickened; and in 
order to do fo, it feems necerTary to 
retrace our fteps to Stratford, and to 
attribute them to a precocious acquifitive- 
nefs, as well as natural quicknefs of obfer- 
vation. Quicknefs of obfervation feems 
necerTarily allied with the keener! fenfe of 
the ludicrous. The traditions of Strat- 
ford concerning the Poet's humour, may 
well be trujled when we read his plays ; 
and when we regard him as a fatirift of 
the follies of mankind, in comparifon 
with the fatirifts of modern times, their 
attacks are but as the prick of a bodkin 
or a pin, compared with the flaying of a 
fcalping-knife ! 

Shakefpere's knowledge was two-fold : 
it was the moft wonderful that any 
human being has ever exhibited, regarded 
as knowledge refulting from obfervation ; 
but it was alfo knowledge acquired by 
reading and ftudy. In him every one recog- 

nifes 



Stratford- upon- Avon. 191 

nifes the ftudent as well as the obferver. 
When did he ftudy ? Where did he 
ftudy? A great amount of his know- 
ledge of life, as exhibited in his ruftic 
characters and clowns, was, we know, the 
photographing of perfons with whom 
he had come in contact in Warwickfhire ! 
There alfo moft probably was his ftudy ! It 
has been afferted that, towards the clofe 
of his life, he regularly retired to Strat- 
ford for the purpofe of writing his plays. 
The affertion carries with it every proba- 
bility, and it is likely enough the truth, 
that at Stratford he was habitually a ftu- 
dent to the very clofe of his career. If 
the Tempeji or Henry VIII. were the laft 
plays he wrote, he muft have been fuch. 
We may well incline to the belief, when 
we remember the touching farewells 
of Profpero and Wolfey to that power 
which they had fo long exercifed. 
Shakeipere himfelf might be fpeaking 

to 



192 New Place, 



to us in the "long farewell," or in the 
lines : — 

"Til break my faff, 
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, 
And deeper than did ever plummet found, 
Til drown my hook." 

It is not, however, with the clofe but with 
the commencement of his career, that we 
have to do. Was not Stratford the fchool- 
houfe of his life ? Did not his mind, — 
with a precocity fuch as has been exhibited 
in Milton and Chatterton, and for which 
Lord Byron was nervoufly anxious that 
the world mould give him credit, — eagerly 
and thirftily drink at the fources of fuch 
knowledge as were capable of being 
reached in his youthful years ? Though 
it may feemingly be a very unfatis- 
fadlory manner of anfwering a queftion, to 
put another; neverthelefs, when every 
lover of Shakelpere has afked, and will 
continue to afk until the queftion is 
anfwered, " Where did the Poet gain his 

" diverfified 



Stratford-npon-A r con. 193 

" diveriified learning?" it may not be 
altogether ufelefs to reply to fuch in- 
quirers — Have you not paffed over, with- 
out fufficiently fearching confideration, the 
days that were fpent at " the fchool i' the 
"church?" Have you thoroughly in- 
veftigated the character of that fchool, and 
of the Guild of the Holy Crofs, with 
which it was originally incorporated? 
Have you fatisfied yourfelves, whether, in 
that very church, Shakefpere might not 
have found thofe fources of knowledge 
which he evidently found fomewhere and 
fomehow ? 

Between the date when King Henry 
VIII. fuppreffed the monaftic eftablifh- 
ment in 1536, to the date of his fon, 
Edward VI., reviving the School of the 
Guild in 1553, only feventeen years inter- 
vened. Thofe years were long enough 
to complete the work of difperfion or 
deftruction among the libraries of abbeys 

that 



194 New Place, 



that were themfelves reduced to ruins, 
but no fuch ruin overtook the Guild of 
the Holy Crofs. It was not an eftablifh- 
ment of fufficient importance to be ruined, 
and accordingly it changed hands, and 
followed the deftiniefc of the Reforma- 
tion. 

What became of its furniture — its 
chattels — above all, its books ? Was there 
any library connected with the Free 
School of the Guild ? If fo, what object 
could there be for the officers of Henry 
VIII. to deftroy it, or difperfe it ? 

The problem as to where Shake- 
fpere gained his extenfive knowledge, 
can never be folved until inquiries in this 
direction fhall be — if ever — fatisfactorily 
anfwered. The ground, to the befl 
belief of the author, is almoft, if not 
altogether, unbroken ground. Whether 
the readers of thefe pages will feel the 
fame conviction that he does, it is not for 

him 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 195 

him to know; but, while the moft in- 
terefting of all inquiries regarding the life 
of Shakefpere ftill waits for an anfwer, 
the author has convinced himfelf, that if 
that anfwer is ever rendered, it will come 
from Stratford, and not from London ; — it 
will prove that William Shakefpere, while 
a fchool-boy, with little Latin and lefs 
Greek, had neverthelefs a thirft for know- 
ledge in his own mother-tongue, a love 
for acquiring information of the moft 
diverfified character, and a marvellous 
power, or natural gift, for hiving his ftore 
in the cells of memory, and bringing forth 
that knowledge, " fweeter than honey or 
" the honeycomb," whenever it was re- 
quired. With a conviction, which nothing 
but abfolute evidence to the contrary 
would ever make, the author feels morally 
certain that at the " fchool i' the church " 
Shakefpere had free accefs to fome valu- 
able ftore of books, whether belonging 

to 



196 New Place, 



to the Guild proper, or to the fchool 
of the Guild, or to fome other library 
that was contiguous and eafily accef- 
fible ; and that from the fame fources 
at which the thirfting fchool- boy drank, 
the man, in his occafional and eventually 
permanent retirement, drank alfo. Per- 
haps there may have been a peculiar 
charm and attraction for this teacher of 
mankind in fettling at New Place, becaufe 
its gables and cafements were fhadowed 
by the glorious architecture of that 
Holy Crofs Chapel, wherein he had dis- 
covered, and ever after fondly fought, 
thofe filent teachers — dear and precious 
books ! — the unquarrelling friends, the un- 
changing companions, the charmers whofe 
charms never fade; — alike welcome to the 
man in the zenith of literary fame, and to 
the fchool-boy with fatchel and mining 
morning face, eagerly feeking (as King 
Edward named the mailer of the Stratford 

School) 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 197 

School) the Pedagogue and "the fchool 
" i' the church." 



Though the remains are very fcanty 
that ferve to give us any information 
regarding Shakefpere, it is fomewhat 
remarkable that one of the rnoft valuable 
relics connected with him fhould have 
belonged to his library. One book of 
Shakefpere's, with his autograph on 
the fly-leaf, exifts. It is Montaigne's 
Effays. Amidft the goffip of literature 
with which the modern Prefs abounds, it 
is no fmall teftimony to the worth of 
fuch books as Montaigne's Effays, and 
Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, that 
they ftand without rivals to the prefent 
hour ; approached only by Hallam, by 
D'Ifraeli's " Curiofities of Literature," and 
one or two other works of like character, 
but unfurparTed by any, in their own 

quaint 



198 New Place, 



quaint and captivating ftyle of hiftorical 
anecdote. 

That Montaigne mould be a favourite 
author with Shakefpere will be readily 
underftood by any one who has ftudied 
the minds of the two men. They were 
both fatirifts of the eccentricities of 
human nature. They had both a relifh 
for conceits. They were both philo- 
fophers of life. We can well imagine 
that Montaigne would be as valued on the 
fhelves of New Place, as Charles Lamb 
defcribes a new book to have been valued, 
when it was at laft acquired after the 
careful ftoring of every fpare farthing, 
and carried home in triumph to his 
filler ! 

Shakefpere's one book ! And fuch 
a book ! What more humorous, in- 
ftructive, entertaining, and improving 
companion could a man need than 
Montaigne's EfTays ? Leaving to Mr. 

Emerfon 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 199 

Emerfon and Mr. St. John the talk of 
apologifing for the occafionally eccentric 
tendency of the Gafcon's fancy — remem- 
bering the fafhion of rtie times in which 
he lived, and the vernacular even of courts 
and kings, which in modern days would 
make the hair of fociety ftand on end — we 
might be permitted to arrange in imagi- 
nation the bookfhelves of New Place, 
and with the fingle vertebra of a library 
— Montaigne's EiTays — proceed to the 
formation of the body of Shakefpere's 
firefide literature, as Profeffor Owen con- 
structs an animal upon the authority of a 
bone. Aftonifhing as the number of works 
is which Caxton contrived to produce be- 
tween the publication of the " Game of 
" Chefs," in 1474, and his death in 1491 — 
the year before Sir Hugh Clopton was Lord 
Mayor of London — equalling as much as 
five thoufand clofely printed folio pages, 
this leaping of the giant in the womb of 

time 



2oo New Place, 



time (as Mr. Hallam called it) was nothing 
in comparifon with the production of 
books during the feventy years that inter- 
vened between the date of Caxton's 
death and Shakefpere's birth. The great 
printer's favourite apprentices, Pynfon and 
Wynkyn de Worde, had between them 
publifhed more than fix hundred volumes 
at the end of the firft quarter of the fif- 
teenth century. When once the prefles 
had been eftablifhed at Oxford and other 
large provincial towns, the iflue averaged 
feventy-five volumes a year. So that, by 
the clofe of the century when Shake- 
fpere modelled and furnifhed his houfe 
at New Place, he had the pick of ten 
thoufand volumes publifhed in the Englifh 
tongue, and could adorn his ftudy either 
with Cranmer's Bible, publifhed by Graf- 
ton, or with one of John Day's ; or with 
that edition of 1551 for which Tindall 
was ftrangled, and his body burnt. In 

addition 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 201 

addition to this, the retirement of Strat- 
ford would be enlivened for him by the 
arrival of " Mercuries " or " Flying 
" Couriers/' in which the lateft intel- 
ligence from Town would be recorded, 
and he might fee what Heminge and 
Burbage were about at the Globe. 

When fpeculations are hazarded as to 
the knowledge of S-hakefpere, and its 
fources, it is deiirable to have facts of this 
defcription recalled to mind. We ordi- 
narily labour under the impreffion that 
books were very fcarce in Shakefpere's 
days; and if we may take Lord Macaulay's 
celebrated picture of England's country 
houfes in the time of Charles II. as fome- 
thing like the truth, we may make a 
pretty fair guefs at what would be the 
amount of intellectual food enjoyed by 
the gentry and fquires of Warwickshire 
juft one century earlier. If, between 
1660 and 1665, " tne difficulty and ex- 

" penfe 



202 New Place, 



" penfe of carrying large packets from 
" place to place was fo great that an ex- 
" tenfive work was longer in making its 
" way from Paternofter Row to Devon- 
" mire or Lancashire than it now is in 
" reaching Kentucky," .... and " few 
" Knights of the Shire had libraries fo 
" good as may now perpetually be found 
" in a fervants' hall," the fubjecT; of rural 
intellectuality would be depreffing in- 
deed, on glancing backwards one hundred 
years prior to fuch Boeotian darknefs, were 
it not that the crab-like movement in this 
inftance would be pofitive progrefs, fince 
there can be no queftion that learning 
degraded in England between the dates 
1560 and 1660. 

Upon Shakefpere's claffical knowledge, 
or maftery of languages, there is little to 
be faid, or that needs to be faid fince the 
publication of Dr. Farmer's (the Mafter 
of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,) 

" Effay 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 203 

" Effay on the Learning of Shakefpere." 
That exhauftive pamphlet, Malone can- 
didly admitted, was overwhelming in its 
evidence, and conclufive, that the Poet's 
claffical plays and poems were not con- 
ftructed upon a knowledge of the claffic 
authors, but upon tranflations of thofe 
authors. Whether Ben Jonfon ever 
uttered the flighting words attributed 
to him or not, he would be a rampant 
enthufiaft indeed who would dare to con- 
travene the truth of the words them- 
felves. Nothing can be more conclufive 
of Shakefpere's mere fchoolboy know- 
ledge of Latin than his abfurd mifquo- 
tation from Lily's Grammar of a line 
which, for the purpofe of example, is 
given one way in the grammar, but 
runs very differently in the " Eunu- 
" chus " of Terence, from which, 
had our Poet really been quoting, 
he would have quoted correctly. In 

the 



204 New Place, 



the Taming of the Shrew, we read 
(A& i. Scene i)— 

Tranio. Mafler, it is no time to chide you now; 
Affe&ion is not rated from the heart : 
If love have touctid you, naught remains lutfo, — 
" Redime te captum quam queas minimo." 

In the original ("Eunuchus," I. i. 29) 
the paflage ftands thus : — 

Phcedria. Nee quid agam, fcio. 

Parmeno. Quid agas? Ni/i ut te redimas 
captum, quam queas 
Minimo : Ji nequeas paululo, at quanti queas 
Et ne te qfflictes. 

Phcedria. Itanefuades, &c, &c. 

The truth was that Shakefpere had 
learnt Lily's Grammar at fchool (with 
its " Epiftle " and directions by Cardinal 
Wolfey). 

We have no poflible reafon for fup- 
pofing that he ever pretended to fcholar- 
fhip. He put into the mouth of Tranio 
a line with which, in his day, every 
fchoolboy was familiar ; but from whence 

derived, 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 205 

derived, it is very probable, Shakefpere 
neither knew nor cared. Probably, with 
his keen humour, no one could have en- 
joyed a laugh more than he, could he 
have liftened to the rubbifh which Shake- 
fperian " fcholars " have talked about the 
claffical knowledge of a man who was 
too honeft even to pretend to any fami- 
liarity with the Greek and Latin poets. 

The well-worn ftory of Mr. Hales, of 
Eton, filtering through the works of 
Rowe, Dry den, and Gilrow, is equally 
honourable to Mr. Hales, and probably 
clofe to the truth. 

Rowe writes : " In a converfation be- 
" tween Sir John Suckling, Sir William 
" D'Avenant, Endymion Porter, Mr. 
" Hales, of Eton, and Ben Jonfon, Sir 
" John Suckling, who was a proferTed 
" admirer of Shakefpere, had undertaken 
" his defence againft Ben Jonfon with 
" fome warmth ; Mr. Hales, who had 

"fat 



2o6 New Place, 



' fat ftill for fome time told them, 
' ' That if Mr. Shakfpeare had not read 
' ' the ancients, he had likewife not flolen 
' ' anything from them ; and that if he 
' ' would produce any one topick finely 
' ' treated by any one of them, he would 
' ' undertake to jhow fomething upon the 
6 c fame fubject at leaf as well written by 
< < Shakfpeare: " 

Fifteen years before Rowe's Life of 
Shakefpere had been publifhed, Gildon's 
Letters and EfTays (in 1694) told the 
ftory. "The enemies of Shakefpere 
" would by no means yield him fo much 
" excellence : fo that it came to a refo- 
" lution of a trial of fkill upon that fub- 
" jedt. The place agreed on for the dif- 
" pute was Mr. Hale's chamber at Eton. 
" A great many books were fent down by 
" the enemies of this Poet ; and on the 
" appointed day, my Lord Falkland, Sir 
" John Suckling, and all the perfons of 

" quality 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 207 

" quality that had wit and learning, and 
" interefted themfelves in the quarrel, 
" met there ; and, upon a thorough dif- 
" quifition of the point, the judges, 
" chofen by agreement out of this learned 
" and ingenious affembly, unanimoully 
" gave the preference to Shakfpeare, 
" and the Greek and Roman poets were 
" adjudged to vail at leaft their glory in 
" that to the Englifh hero." 

Dryden's allufion to the ftory (" Effay 
" on Dramatic Poefy," 1667,) is as fol- 
lows : " The confideration of this made 
" Mr. Hales, of Eton, fay, ' that there 
" ' was no fubjecl: of which any poet ever 
" c writ, but he would produce it much 
" * better done by Shakfpeare/ ' 

The " ever-memorable " John Hales 
was a fcholar of diftinguifhed European 
reputation, and, therefore, he muft have 
been as familiar with the Greek and Latin 
poets as with Shakefpere. He was one 

of 



20 8 New Place, 



of thofe ripe and broadly read fcholars — 
not thick as blackberries even in the nine- - 
teenth century — who are as familiar with 
the poetry of their own country as with 
that of the ancients. Hiftory has affured 
us of this : and how very few there are 
like him ! How very few thofe who 
can " cap verfes " in that highefh range 
of literary knowledge, where Terence, 
Horace, Sophocles, and Euripides, can be 
inftantly anfwered by the quotation of a 
kindred line from Spenfer, Shakefpere, or 
Milton. Hales was one of thefe few 
athletes of fcholarfhip, and therefore his 
opinion is worthy of all confideration, 
while his celebrated victory deferves to 
make him, as Malone prayed he might 
remain, " ever-memorable." 

The mental gymnaftics thus performed 
in Mr. Hale's room at Eton, feem to 
point out very diftincHy the ftrength and 
the weaknefs of Shakefpere ! " If he 

"had 



Stratford- upon- Avon, 209 

" had not read the ancients ! " What 
then? Mr. Hales knew he had not. 
Deeply read himfelf in the claffics, he 
knew that his favourite was not fo. But, 
what then ? Point out any moral, any 
philofophic reflection, any noble and 
elevating fentiment, produced by the 
ancient poets, and " I will produce it 
"much better done by Shakfpeare," faid 
Mr. Hales. 

From the crucible to which Dr. Far- 
mer fubjected the writings of Shakefpere, 
they came forth purged from that alloy 
of iilly eulogy which was a drofs, giving 
to the Poet what never belonged to him, 
and depreciating the pure coinage uttered 
by his brilliant brain. The marvel of 
Shakefpere's works is in the beauties that 
are all his own. The prodigality of his 
genius may in fome degree be eftimated 
when one of England's greateft fcholars 
challenges the ancient poets, and declares 

himfelf 



2io New Place, 



himfelf ready to " cap " any fentiment 
of their verfe by a fimilar fentiment, 
equally well or better exprerTed in 
Shakefpere. And who, in the trial, wins 
the victory ? Let it be granted frankly 
that Shakefpere, in writing his Troilus 
and Crejjida, followed Caxton's Hif- 
tory of Troy ; that he borrowed from 
Plutarch; that he read Hollinfhed in 
order to conftrudt Richard III. ; that 
he ftudied a tranflation of Belleforeft 
before he wrote Hamlet I — Let the 
fame fort of facts be quoted againft 
Henry IF., Richard II, and all the hif- 
torical plays : and what does it amount 
to ? Both the clofet and the ftage are 
witnerTes to the truth, that the more 
" hiftorical " the Poet is — the more 
he depends upon and adheres to chroni- 
cles or legends — the lefs powerful he is. 
Thofe plays are the leaft popular which 
are the moft hiftorical, for the fimple reafon 

that 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 2 1 1 

that where he has to trace the hiftory of 
a reign in the cramped limits of a play, 
he is neceffarily fettered, and the fcope of 
the Poet's fancy is more or lefs fubjected 
to the inevitable rehearfal of facts. How 
different is it in the unapproached per- 
fection of treatment, progreffive develop- 
ment of plot, and poetry of diction in 
Othello and Macbeth. In thofe, as in 
Hamlet, and Romeo, and King Lear, a 
fcheme of the play has been derived 
from ancient writers, or tranflations, but 
nothing more. The genius of the Poet 
has been left free to portray character, 
and to clothe fentiment with words as 
no other poet ever did. 

There is every difference between learn- 
ing and language. Shakefpere's know- 
ledge was not a knowledge of language, 
but it was the knowledge of learning. It 
is highly probable that he never derived 
a fingle clamcal incident, allufion, or 

ftory 



212 New Place, 



ftory, direct from a claffical author. It is 
equally probable that he never in his life 
read a Greek play, and knew no more of 
Terence than he had learnt of him in 
Lily's Grammar ! 

The more we realife thefe fafts (for 
they are fadts), and the more furprifing 
the learning of the Poet becomes, he 
does not thereby fink, but rather rifes in 
our admiration. We ftrip him of pre- 
tenfions—po/l-mortem honours to which 
he laid no claim — and regard him folely 
as what he is, the Poet of England, and 
uttering in Englifh verfe the thoughts 
gathered from, or fuggefted by, Englifh 
literature. 

We have feen that there were ten 
thoufand volumes publifhed in Englifh 
during the century in which he flou- 
rifhed, and that every year contributed 
largely to the information of ftudious 
men. Whatever truth there may be in 

Macaulay's , 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 213 

Macaulay's ftrictures upon the ignorance 
prevailing in the reign of Charles II., the 
bufinefs of Shakefpere's life involved read- 
ing and ftudy. And although it is true 
that the circulation of books in the rural 
districts of England may have been very 
flow, ftill this objection would not be any 
impediment to Shakefpere, who, living 
conftantly in London, and travelling to 
and fro between Stratford and town, 
would have ample opportunity to take 
down with him into the country any 
books which he wifhed to read. Chro- 
nological tables of the order in which his 
plays were written, founded upon internal 
evidence, dates of performance, or of 
publication, have frequently been pub- 
limed. Such tables are after all conjec- 
tural, and it is no proof of the date when 
a play was written, to learn when it 
was printed or played. In the abfence 
of demonstration, the conjectures of 

Malone 



214 New Place, 



Malone and Chalmers attribute, the one 
feven, the other eleven plays to Shake- 
fpere prior to his purchafe of New Place 
in 1597. The far more fatisfadtory, 
becaufe pofitive, facts which Mr. C. 
Knight gives us, fhow that only three 
plays had been publifhed prior to 1597. 
With a very trifling amount of excep- 
tion it may, therefore, be ftated that the 
mafs of his plays were written during 
his tenancy of New Place ; and all the 
greateft, without doubt, during the latter 
period of his life. Within fixteen years 
thirty-four plays of Shakefpere's were 
either printed or fpoken of in print, 
giving us an average of two plays a 
year ; their actual publication, or direct 
allufion to them in particular years, being 
as follows : — 



In 1597 .... 3 Plays. 
„ 1598 • • • • 8 „ 
„ 1600 . . . . 5 „ 
„ 1602 . . . . 3 „ 

In 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 2 1 5 

In T603 .... 1 Play. 
„ 1604 . . . . 1 „ 
„ 1607 . . . . _ 2 „ 
„ 1609 
» 1611 
» 1613 

It is very remarkable that, according to 
this lift, the Poet worked the hardeft 
during the year he became poffeffed of 
New Place, and for the four or five years 
fubfequent. Itfeems natural to conclude 
that Shakefpere purchafed New Place 
with a view to making it his literary 
fanctum ; for it is impoflible to refill con- 
necting with the purchafe, the fecundity 
of his pen. Let us only confider the 
character of work in which he was em- 
ployed when in London, and let any man 
fo engaged anfwer whether it would be 
poffible for Shakeipere, regularly employed 
at Blackfriars or the Globe, rehearfing and 
performing, to ftudy the plots and pro- 
duce the MSS. of eight or five tragedies 
and comedies per annum. If he could 

have 



2i 6 New Place, 



have done fo, he would have been a far 
greater prodigy than the world has ever 
yet accounted him. Such an Herculean 
labour of mind and body is beyond the 
capacity of any human being. But if 
we attach the purchafe of New Place to 
Shakefpere's fuccefs as a play-writer, and 
contemplate him withdrawing there from 
the excitement and buftle of Blackfriars 
to produce the Merchant of Venice, 
and Midfummer Nighfs Dream, then 
that garden, and the flender remains of 
the foundations of his houfe feem to be- 
come doubly precious to Englifhmen. 
As time wears on his labours flacken; but 
almoft to the end he continues bringing 
forth from the treafures of his mind the 
immortal works which gild his fame. 
The opinion of many writers has been 
that Shakefpere was undomefticated, and 
that he rarely vifited Stratford. Humbly, 
but confidently, the writer embraces a 

directly 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 217 

directly oppofite opinion. To him it 
appears impoffible that Shakefpere could 
have accomplished the literary work he 
produced, immerfed in the bufinefs and 
diffracting engagements of Blackfriars or 
the Globe. Circumstances feem to give 
credit to the fuppofition that a larger 
amount of his time was fpent at New 
Place than is commonly eftimated; and 
as to his being undomefticated, or un- 
happy in his home, fuch an uncharitable 
and purely conjectural idea has not even 
as much refpectability as the mare's-neft 
which De Quincey difcovered in the 
marriage licenfe. The minds that give 
welcome to the one notion will, moft 
likely, cherifh the other. 

Inftead of Shakefpere refiding in Lon- 
don and occafionally vifiting Stratford, it 
may be much nearer the truth to fay that 
he lived the latter years of his life chiefly 
at New Place, and only vilited London at 

thofe 



218 New Place, 



thofe periods of the year when his prefence 
was abfolutely necerTary. The probabili- 
ties are ftrongly in favour of this opinion, 
and there is no evidence to the contrary. 
For the laft eighteen years of his life he is 
prefented to our imagination as the mafter 
of New Place. He is not to be regarded 
during thofe years enjoying retirement and 
repofe, like many of the great men who 
have followed him in his profeffion, as 
Garrick at Hampton, John Kemble at 
Laufanne, or Macready at Sherborne and 
Cheltenham. 

The "filver livery of advifed age," 
which it was permitted the two firft — and 
long may it be allowed to the third— to 
wear, was never donned by Shakefpere. 
He died in the frefhnefs and vigour of 
life ; and, as we know of a certainty, con- 
tinued actively employed until the clofe 
of his exiftence. It is faddening to think 
how little affociated with his private life 

remains 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 2 1 9 

remains to us. A letter, a will, a deed, 
a book — and that is all ! How different 
the fate of the mafter and his apprentices. 
There are happily preferved to us the 
chief incidents in the life of Garrick ; and 
many articles of perfonal property be- 
longing to him, which are highly prized. 
When Shakefpere was dead a hundred 
years, fcarce a trace of him remained. A 
few ftories gathered from goffips hung 
about his track in Stratford ; but anything 
actually aifociated with him would have 
been as hard to difcover there, as the 
Philofopher's Stone. The hundred years 
was only juft completed, when the houfe 
in which he had lived and died was razed 
to the ground. The defcendants of his 
fitter, Joan Hart, as the pedigree fhows, 
have reached down to our own days. 
PofTibly fome of them may ftill exift in 
the neighbourhood of Tewkefbury or 
Gloucefter. To Joan he bequeathed not 

only 



220 New Place, 



only his houfe in Henley Street, and 
twenty pounds, but alfo " all my wearing 
" apparel." 

What would the world now give to 
fee a fuit of wearing apparel that had been 
worn by Shakefpere ? If the coat of 
Napoleon in the Louvre, or of Nelfon in 
Greenwich Hofpital, attracts the attention 
of tens of thoufands, what would be the 
value of and intereft in the black gown, 
" garded with velvet and faced with 
" cony ;" the ruddy coloured hofe, the caf- 
fock, the jerkin, the "fryze bryches," the 
rapier, and " the hat of a certain kind of 
" fine haire, fetched from beyond the feas, 
"which they call * bever hatte.' "?* 

Shakefpere's wardrobe muft have been 
ftocked with articles of this defcription. 
They were all left to his filter ; and his 
fitter's defcendants certainly furvived to 

the 

* Fairholt's " Coftume in England," p. 216 (i860, Ed.) 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 221 

the end of the laft century. It would 
have feemed natural for them to have 
preferved fome of the coftume of the 
Poet, but there is not a trace of anything 
of the fort. 

In the fame way he bequeathed to 
Mr. Thomas Combe his fword. The 
pedigree mows us how the Combe pro- 
perty parTed into the Glopton family, by 
the marriage of Martha Combe with 
Edward Clopton. What would his 
countrymen not give to recover Shake- 
fpere's fword ? Its prefervation would 
have been moft eafy. If the fword of the 
Conqueror could be preferved in the 
family of the late Sir Godfrey Webfter, 
with the Roll of Battle, down to the 
middle of the laft century, and only then 
perifhed through the misfortune of a fire, 
why could not the Combes and Cloptons 
have preferved Shakeipere's fword ? Why 
might it not have been depofited ere this 

in 



222 New Place, 



in fome national treafury ? If there is 
an article of ufe which has the quality of 
defying accident and time, it is a fword. 
Very probably Shakefpere's fword ftill 
exifts, but has been loft or fold ! Who 
knows whether it may not have been 
among the furniture and chattels fold 
off by Mr. Batterfbee, previous to the 
demolition of Stratford College, the 
refidence of the Combes ? 

What became of the broad filver-gilt 
bowl bequeathed to Judith Shakefpere — ■ 
Mrs. Quiney ? What became of the 
" chattels, plate, jewels, and houfehold 
" fluff" bequeathed to Dr. Hall and 
Mrs. Hall ? Thefe would naturally de- 
fcend to Lady Barnard ; and at her deceafe 
would continue in the ufe of Sir John 
Barnard, until his death in 1673. Neither 
Lady Barnard's will, nor the indenture 
relating to her property, make any men- 
tion of Shakefpere's heir-looms. The 

broad 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 223 

broad filver-gilt bowl, the plate, the 
jewels, all vanifh from fight. Articles 
of this defcription do not perifh or con- 
fume away. They may exift now in as 
excellent prefervation as in 1 6 1 6 ! If to, 
what has become of them ? Unlefs the 
filver bowl was fold by the Quineys, and 
melted down, it would moil probably be 
engraved with a creft, or a monogram, 
or fome device whereby it could be 
recognifed. Is it yet too late to inftitute 
a fearch for fuch an invaluable relic of 
the Poet ? A man of Sir John Barnard's 
ftation would naturally leave plate, jewels, 
and property, to his heirs or relatives. 
It is faid that this family has died out 
within a very fhort time at Abingdon, in 
Berk/hire. If fuch is the fact, family 
heir-looms do not defcend to the grave : 
they pafs to fome one. If the inquiry 
has not yet been diligently made, it is 
well worth while to know in what di- 
rection 



224 New Place, 



redtion the Barnard property has gone ; 
and to trace — failing direcl: male defcent 
— the female hTue, and the marriages 
which may have carried property into 
other families. It feems impoffible but 
that Elizabeth Hall muft have inherited 
the plate and jewels which belonged to 
her grandfather ; and as me makes no 
direcl; mention of them in her will, it is 
natural to fuppofe they continued in 
poffeffion of her hufband. 

We fee Shakefpere's perfonal property 
divided among his children and his lifter : 
to one his wardrobe is bequeathed, to 
another his plate, to another his broad 
lilver bowl, and to Thomas Combe his 
fword ! It is hard to believe that a man 
valued during his lifetime as Shakefpere 
was, and immortalifed fo quickly after 
his death, mould be held in the leaft 
efteem by thofe of his own houfehold. 
It is hard to think that no one belonging 

to 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 225 

to him mould defire to preferve the me- 
mentoes which he had particularly be- 
queathed to them in his will. And yet 
the fact ftares us in the face that not a 
fingle heir-loom of the Poet has been 
handed down, by any one branch of his 
family, to the prefent day ! All, all 
are loft and gone, fave one book, the 
prefervation of which has been purely 
accidental! 

Rowe, who acknowledges himfelf in- 
debted to Betterton for a confiderable part 
of the paffages relating to the Poet's life 
introduced in his Biography (published 
1709), informs us that Betterton's "vener- 
" ation for the memory of Shakefpere . . . 
" engaged him to make a journey into 
" Warwickshire, on purpofe to gather 
" up what remains he could of a name 
" which he had in fo great veneration." 
Confidering that Betterton was born 
in 1635 — the fame year in which Dr. 

John 



226 New Place 9 



John Hall died — and that his daughter 
furvived until 1669, when Better ton was 
thirty-four years of age, — and confidering 
alfo that me was eight years of age when 
her grandfather died, and therefore per- 
fectly able to fpeak of him from her own 
recollection, — it does feem extraordinary 
that the remains which Betterton went 
to Stratford to gather up were fo fcanty. 
He would find Shakefpere's children all 
dead, but his refidence in the pofTefllon 
of his grandchild, who, though living at 
Abington, was probably an occafional 
vifitor to her property in Stratford. Had 
he even made her acquaintance, with 
what a fund of information might 
Rowe's Life have been enriched ! and 
what treafures connected with the Poet 
might have been chronicled, and pofiibly 
preferved, through his intereft ! But the 
fates feem to have ordered it otherwife. 
The Poet had not been dead twenty 

years 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 227 

years when Betterton was born ; and 
within half a century of Shakefpere's 
deceafe, this venerator of his memory 
probably viiited Stratford. From that 
place he does not feem to have brought 
back with him a rlngle memento of the 
Poet; or to have feen his rword, his filver 
bowl, his books, or any of his chattels, 
at a defcription of which the ears of 
every antiquary in England would now 
tingle, while to recover one of them 
would make any prefent difcoverer 
famous. 

Fifty years, and the treafures of the 
Poet were unnoticed or unknown ! One 
hundred years, and the domeftic aflb- 
ciations of his pupil and interpreter, 
David Garrick, are as frefhly and care- 
fully preferved as if he had been in 
their midft yefterday ! Within a mile 
of one another, at Hampton and Hamp- 
ton Court, are two refidences, which, 

fo 



228 New Place, 



fo long as they exift, will be for ever 
aflbciated with Shakefpere and Garrick. 
Thanks to Mr. Peter Cunningham's 
timely difcovery in the Audit Office of 
the "Revel's Booke," we now know when 
" Shaxberd's " Plate of Errors, his Mar- 
chant of Venis, his Mefur for Me fur, 
and his Merry Wives of Winfor, were per- 
formed before James I. We know with 
certainty of two noble chambers — and 
thofe royal chambers — in which Shake- 
fpere was feen and heard, and of none 
other ; for though it would be almoft a 
profanity to difturb the tradition which 
identifies the houfe in Henley Street, 
Stratford, as the birthplace of the Poet, 
there is no abfolute certainty of fuch 
being the cafe. The Banqueting Houfe, 
at Whitehall, and the mifnamed " Wol- 
" fey's Hall," at Hampton Court, wherein 
Shakefpere's company performed before 
the king in the winters of 1603 and 1604, 

are 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 229 

are chambers for ever aflbciated with the 
hiftory of England ; and not among their 
minor aflbciations is the recollection that 
in them the King of England liftened 
to the Poet's plays — faw the Poet him- 
felf as one of the players — and "be- 
" flowed efpecial honour upon Shake- 
" fpere," in " an amicable letter." The 
letter was in the pofTeffion of Sir William 
Davenant as reported, and there feems no 
reafon to queftion the truth of the report. 
But whether it be true or not, there is no 
queftion regarding the enactment of the 
tragedies and comedies before the Court 
at Whitehall and Hampton. We are 
thus enabled to interweave the memory 
of our Poet with two ftrudtures utterly 
diffimilar in architectural detail, but each 
a princely pile, and each clofely con- 
nected with the mod ftirring events of 
hiftory. 

Prince Charles, a child of four years 

of 



230 New Place, 



of age, may have fported at the King's 
knee, and witneffed the deed of blood 
done by the Moor in the fame hall 
through which he was to pafs to a darker 
deed of blood years afterwards. The 
hiftory of that Palace of Whitehall is 
familiar to every fchoolboy, but not fo 
familiar that of the two halls which 
have adorned the Palace of Hampton 
Court. For contrail, for light and fhade 
in hiftorical painting, what four pictures 
of funfhine and fhower could be more 
dramatic than a vigorous reprefentation of 
Wolfey's Banqueting Hall, as it muft 
have appeared when he entertained the 
French Ambaflador, — when the Court 
Revels was held there after the acceffion 
of James, and Shakefpere performed in 
the hall which now occupies the fame 
lite as Wolfey's, which was moft probably 
defigned by him, but not erected until 
the 22nd Henry VIIL, fix years after the 

Cardinal 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 231 

Cardinal had left the Palace for ever; — and 
on the oppofite or fhadowed fide of the 
picture, when Mary inhabited the Court, 
liftening to the mafles and prayers of her 
priefts, praying for her fafe deliverance of 
an heir to the throne of the realm, which 
was never deftined to be born ; or when 
Cromwell, in his domeftic gloom, paced 
up and down that Hall, liftening to the 
mufic of the " box of whiftles," which 
Puritanic opinion thought too Popifh for 
the chapel of Magdalen College, but was 
a fit inftrument, erected in the Minftrel's 
Gallery at Hampton, to foothe the 
throbbing breaft of the Lord Protector. 

George Cavendifh defcribes Wolfey's 
entertainment to the Ambaflador of 
Francis I. Nearly three hundred bed- 
rooms were fitted up to receive his 
fuite, each provided with a bafin and 
ewer of filver, wine and beer veffels of 
filver, bowls, goblets, and filver fconces. 

At 



232 New Place, 



At the banquet, bouffets ftretched acrofs 
the end of the Hall, having fix fhelves 
one above the other, crowded with gold 
and filver plate. During the fecond 
courfe the Lord Cardinal came in, booted 
and fpurred, and giving all welcome, took 
a golden bowl rilled with hypocras, and 
drank to the health of his Sovereign 
Lord and of the King of France. What 
a contraft to the fpedlacle witneffed on 
the fame fpot in the following century, 
when the King-killer, quivering with 
emotion as his child lay dead in an ad- 
joining chamber, wandered in his foli- 
tude about that Palace ! There Mary 
likewife had wandered in her folitude ! 
and there, too, Charles had parTed fome 
of his bittereftdays! Strange aflbciations 
thefe, with the Hall in which Shakefpere 
and his company had performed before 
Charles's father, and perchance in 
Charles's prefence ! 

The 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 233 

The deftruction of New Place, and 
the lofs and definition of every article 
of perfonal property that the Poet be- 
queathed to his family, excepting one 
book, — Florio's tranflated edition of Mon- 
taigne (1603), with his fignature in- 
fcribed, — muft for ever remain a matter of 
the deepeft regret. We only know of fix 
fignatures of Shakefpere. All, fave one, are 
appended to legal documents. The auto- 
graph in Montaigne is the only fcrap of 
writing by the Poet which affociates us 
with him in his literary life. However 
valuable his fignature may be, a far higher 
value attaches to his writing in a book 
that was one of his companions and 
friends, and poffeffed a place in his home, 
than the mere execution of a hard, dry, 
legal document. A very interefting 
account of Shakefpere's copy of Mon- 
taigne was written by Sir Frederick 
Madden, which ftates that it was pur- 
chafed 



234 New Place, 



chafed in 1838 for the Britifh Mufeum, 
from the Rev. Edward Pattefon, of Eaft 
Sheen, and had belonged to his father, 
the Rev. Edward Pattefon, of Smeth- 
wick, near Birmingham, by whom, pre- 
vious to the year 1780, the volume ufed 
to be exhibited as a treafure, on account 
of its containing the autograph of Shake- 
fpere. In other words, the book and its 
autograph were mown with pride, and not 
for f ale, prior to Ireland's forgeries, and 
the vulgar attempts to imitate Shakefpere's 
fignature by fuch impoftors as Jordan, 
"the Poet of Stratford" fave the mark ! 
Sir Frederick Madden fays, and fays 
properly, "the prefent autograph chal- 
lenges and defies fufpicion." The book 
of itfelf is interefting, apart from its con- 
nection with Shakefpere ; and as it is a 
treafure which can only be infpected by 
fpecial leave, it may be well to publifh 
its title. 

THE 



THE 

ESSAYES, 



MORALL, POLITIKE, AND MILLITARIE 
DISCOURSES, 



LO: MICHAELL DE MONTAIGNE, 

KNIGHT, 

Of the Noble Order of St. MlCHAELL, and one of the GENTLEMEN 

in Ordinary of the French King, Henry the Third, 

his Chamber. 



■Wbt JFt'rst tBoofa. 
(***) 



Firft written by him in French, 

and 

Now done into Engli/h 



By 



By him that hath inviolably vowed his labours to the 

iEternitie of their Honors, 

Whofe names he hath feverally infcribed on thefe his 

confecrated Altares. 



To the Right Honorable 

LUCIE, CO : OF BEDFORD, 

and 

LADIE ANNE HARRINGTON, 

Her Ho. Mother. 



t&fyt g>etari& 28006c. 



To the Right Honorable 

ELIZABETH, CO : OF RUTLAND, 

and 

LADY PENELOPE RICHE. 



Clje GHnrtf 3S0OS*. 



7b the Right Honorable 

LADIE ELIZABETH GREY, 

and 

LADIE MARIE NEVILL. 



JOHN FLORIO. 

^f Printed at London, by Val. Sims and Edward 
Blount, dwelling in Paules Churchyard. 1603. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 237 

That Shakefpere was familiar with 
this tranflation is put beyond all doubt 
by the fad: that, in Ad: ii., Scene 2, of the 
Tempeji, he quotes from it almoft word 
for word : — 

" F the commonwealth, I would by contraries 
Execute all things : for no kind of traffic 
Would I admit ; no name of magiftrale ; 
Letters fliould not be known ; riches, poverty, 
And life of fervice, none; contraEl, fuccefjion, 
Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none ; 
No ufe of metal, corn, or wine, or oil; 
No occupation ; all men idle, all; 
And women too; but innocent and pure ." 

The paffage thus quoted, in Florio, 
Book i., Chap. 30, runs as follows: — 
Speaking of a newly difcovered country, 
which he calls Antartick France, Mon- 
taigne obferves : — " It is a nation — would 
" I anfwer Plato — that hath no kind of 
" traffike ; no knowledge of letters ; no in- 
" telligence of numbers ; no name of 
" magijirate, nor of politike fuperioritie ; 
"no ufe of fervice, of riches, or of poverty; 
" no contracts ; no fuccefjions ; no divi- 

" dences ; 



238 New Place, 



" dences ; no occupation, but idle ; no 
" refpeft of kindred, but common ; no 
" apparell, but naturall ; no manuring of 
"lands; no ufe of wine, come, or 
"mettle," &c. 

That the volume in queftion belonged 
to a library in Shakefpere's time, its binding 
fhows, particularly in the Tudor-fafhioned 
fleur-de-lis and crown ornamentation with 
which the leather is ftamped. 

That the volume belonged to Shake- 
ipere himfelf, the autograph which 
" challenges and defies fufpicion " proves. 

Having re-aflerted Sir Frederick Mad- 
den's words, it would be unfair not to 
quote the following paflage from Mr. 
Halliwell's "Life of William Shake- 
" fpeare," pp. 280-81 : — 

" It is unneceflary to fay that many alleged autographs 
u of Shakefpeare have been exhibited ; but forgeries of 
te them are fo numerous, and the continuity of defign, 
" which a fabricator could not produce in a long docu- 
" ment, is fo eafy to obtain in a mere fignature, that the 
" only fafe courfe is, to adopt none as genuineon internal 

" evidence 



Stratford- upon- Avon. 239 

" evidence. A fignature in a copy of Florio's tranfla- 
" tion of Montaigne, 1609, is open to this objection. 
" The verbal evidence as to its exiftence only extends 
" as far back as 1780, after the publication of Stevens' 
" fac-fimile of the laft autograph in the will, of which 
" it may be a copy with intentional variations." 

Mr. Halliweirs general accuracy makes 
an error, in what he fays of this book, 
remarkable; and excites the fufpicion that, 
in his fcepticifm, he may have difdained 
to give the book that honourable confi- 
deration which it really deferves. He 
fays, " tranflation of Montaigne, 1609." 
The title above given will fhow that the 
date is 1603. The error is hardly worth 
notice in itfelf, but well worth it when 
fallen into by a gentleman to whofe 
painftaking and fearching accuracy we 
are fo greatly indebted. It awakens an 
impreflion that Florio's Montaigne may 
be worthy of a clofer examination than 
it has yet received, and may perhaps con- 
tain more interefting evidence in favour 
of its having belonged to Shakefpere than 

has 



240 New Place, 



has as yet been mown. For inftance, Sir 
Frederick Madden, in his defcription of 
the book, notices the manufcript notes 
which are found in it, and the quotations 
and references on the fly-leaves at the be- 
ginning and ending of the volume. He 
ftates that he had at firft hoped thefe 
notes might have proved to be in the 
handwriting of Shakefpere, but on ex- 
amination he concluded they were written 
at fome period later than Shakefpere's time, 
though not much later, as the character of 
the writing proves. There Sir Frederick 
leaves the matter. But it is well worth 
while to take the book in hand, and re- 
fume its examination at the point where 
Sir Frederick has dropped it. On the 
fly-leaf are Italian quotations, references 
to the claflic poets, and references tofub- 
jects in the book. Thefe prove that the 
writer was a literary man and a claflical 
fcholar. Taking up the references, and 

turning 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 241 

turning to the body of the work, we find 
the margins annotated in feveral places, 
and Montaigne's Latin quotations veri- 
fied or corrected. Sometimes a wrong 
author's name is given : if fo, the anno- 
tations correct the prefs. Sometimes a 
quotation is given without the name of 
the author : if fo, the annotation throws in 
" Livy," "Virgil," or fome other clafiical 
name — fuch a book, fuch a line. We are 
thus put beyond all doubt that the writer 
was fome fcholar who had the clafiical 
poets, as we fay, at his fingers' ends. But 
here comes the marvel of the matter. 
Upon the edges of the leaves is printed 
with pen and ink the name A. HALES. 
Hales ! Is it poflible that the con- 
nection of that name with Shakefpere 
entirely efcaped the recollection of Sir 
Frederick Madden, and all other exami- 
ners of the book ? Did no one remem- 
ber the Poet's champion at Eton, who 

Lord 



242 New Place, 



Lord Clarendon declared " was one of the 
" leaft men in the kingdom, and one of 
" the greater!: fcholars in Europe." Sir 
Frederick is perfectly correct in ftating 
that the orthography in the volume, 
though not Shakefpere's, belongs to a date 
of the Shakefperian age. When we link 
together thefe facts — that Mr. Hales, of 
Eton, was the Poet's enthunaftic ad- 
mirer ; that he was a profound fcholar, 
and therefore the very man who would 
fupply the names of claffic authors to 
quotations, and correct errors of reference 
to them, or infcribe on a fly-leaf a parallel 
paiTage from fome Italian poet ; that if 
there was a fale of Shakeipere's goods and 
chattels at New Place, his books would 
be precifely the memorials of the man 
which Mr. Hales would covet and pur- 
chafe ; that a volume containing, his 
autograph would be a prize eagerly 
fought and religioufly preferved ; that 

fuch 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 243 

fuch a work would be read and annotated 
by Mr. Hales with the intenfeft pleafure; 
and that the name " Hales" is actually in- 
fcribed upon the edges of the leaves, — it 
does feem that a ftrong teftimony to the 
value of the book has been overlooked, 
and that a moft interefting piece of in- 
ternal evidence as to its hiftoric value has 
been unappreciated. It is true that it 
falls fhort of abfolute proof; but the links 
of the chain couple themfelves fo natu- 
rally, and the probabilities are fo ftrongly 
in favour of this book having belonged 
to Mr. Hales, that if fuch evidence re- 
commends itfelf to the minds of thofe 
who read thefe pages, Florio's Mon- 
taigne muft be regarded henceforth with 
a heightened intereft ; and juft as we re- 
gard the book from having parTed into 
the porTeffion of fuch a man as Mr. 
Hales, muft its prefervation by him be 
an additional teftimony — if fuch were 

needed — 



244 New Place, 



needed — in favour of the authenticity of 
the autograph of Shakefpere. 

Let Hales be " ever-memorable," faid 
Malone, becaufe of his defence of Shake- 
fpere. Will he not deferve to be " ever- 
" memorable," indeed, if it mould prove 
that to his love and reverence we are in- 
debted for the prefervation of the only- 
known article of property that belonged 
to Shakefpere ? 

Thoroughly convinced of the genuine- 
nefs of the autograph, and ftrongly 
imprefTed with the belief that after 
Shakefpere's death his goods and chattels 
were fold, and that this book pafled into 
the poffeffion of Mr. Hales, of Eton, 
Florio's Montaigne is regarded by the 
author as the folitary "In memoriam" 
of New Place. New Place is fwept 
away; the great houfe has vanifhed; the 
Poet's fword is loft ; the plate and jewels 
are deftroyed or fold, or loft likewife ; the 

broad 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 245 

broad filver-gilt bowl is — melted down 
perhaps ; but one treafure is fpared to 
us, better than plate or jewels, becaufe it 
is aflbciated with the Poet's play of the 
Tempeft, — becaufe it bears his autograph, 
— becaufe, being a book, it is a memento 
moft kindred to him who has given to 
the world, fuperior to all other products 
of the human intellect, the Book of 
books, — and becaufe, having belonged 
to his library, we know how he muft 
have valued it — 

" Me, poor man ! my library 
Was dukedom large enough." 

The attention of the reader has been 
efpecially called to the name of " Charles 
" Hales," as one of the commiffioners of 
the inquifition for inquiry regarding the 
eftate of Ambrofe, Earl of Warwick. It 
will be obferved that in Shakeipere's time 
a Charles Hales is connected with Strat- 
ford. Then a John Hales is peculiarly 

interefted 



246 New Place, 



interefted in upholding the Poet's fame ; 
and on a book bearing his autograph the 
name "A. Hales" is found infcribed. 

A vifit to Heralds' College, and a little 
of the " Old Mortality" fpirit of mural 
refearch in Canterbury, Warwick, and 
Somerfet, gives us information of confider- 
able intereft, and feems to the author to 
add value to the folio of Montaigne. 
The fad: is, the Hales family was con- 
neded with Snitterfield, and one branch 
of it was feated there both before and 
after Shakefpere's time. This diftin- 
guifhed ftock, which yielded fo many 
fervants to the Crown in the high offices 
of the law, belonged, ex flirpe, to Can- 
terbury, and may be traced as located at 
the Dane John, or Dungeon, of that city, 
at Hales Place, at Tenterden, and elfe- 
where. By reference to the appended 
Pedigree, it will be feen how the junior 
defcents of this houfe became feated at 

Coventry, 



John Hales, 
of the Dane John, Canterbury, 
Baron of the Exchequer. 



Isabella, 
fil. et hceres of 
Stephen Harvey. 



Sir James Hales, Kt. = fil. et hceres de 
Justice of the Common Pleas. I Thomas Hales, of 

[ Henley-upon-Thames, 

I 



Mildred. = John 



Humphrey Hales, = Joyce, 
of the Dane John. d. and co-heiress of Robt. Atwater, 



Sir James Hales, 
of the Dane John. 



Alice, 

d. of Sir Thomas Kempe. 



Cheiney Hales, 

of the Dane John. 

Ob. 1 6 March, 1596. 



Mary, 

d. of Richard Harden. 



I 

Sir James Hales, 

of Lower Dane Jofm. Living 161 9 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 247 

Coventry, at Newland near Coventry, 
and at Snitterfield. John Hales (A) ac- 
quired the celebrated Priory of Coventry, 
which Angularly enough had been granted 
by patent of Henry VIII., dated 28th 
July, 37th anno., to John Combes, Efq., 
and Richard Stansfield, their heirs, &c. 
From them it paffed to this John Hales, 
in the 15 th of Elizabeth. He died feifed 
thereof, leaving it to John, his nephew 
(B), fon of his brother Chriilopher, who, 
it will be obferved, had married the 
daughter of Lucy of Charlecote. 

If the reader will glance over this 
Pedigree, it will be obferved that the 
Halefes, Lucys, and Combes became con- 
nected by marriages between their fami- 
lies ; and it is of fome intereft to find that 
fuch a magnificent monaftic eitabliih- 
ment as the Priory of Coventry — magni- 
ficent even in the wreck that remains of 
it to the prefent time, converted as it is 

to 



248 New Place, 



to be a home for the poor — belonged to 
the father or grandfather of John k Combe, 
and after him to the Halefes of Warwick- 
fhire. 

The reader will perhaps accufe the 
author of taking him a heavy ride acrofs 
heraldic country to arrive at a very fimple 
fact. But in thefe matters of refearch 
there is no royal road to knowledge, and 
it is only by patient fearch that we arrive 
at a knowledge of facts calculated to 
throw light on fubjects like the prefent. 

The pedigree of Hales, if given in all 
its branches, would require the infertion 
of an immenfe map-like meet in this 
place, and therefore it is neceflary to 
exclude fuch branches as are not con- 
nected with the hiftory of Shakefpere. 
As the Halefes wandered away from Kent 
to Warwickshire, to Coventry, to Snitter- 
field, to Newland, fo one of the branches 
took root in Somerfetfhire, at a place 

called 






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Stratford-upon-Avon. 2 49 

called High Church. To this branch 
the "ever-memorable John" belonged. 
His life is familiar to Eton and Oxford 
men, and to perfons interefted in Laud, 
and the Royalift troubles. It is not 
generally known ; and therefore a few 
words on the fubjed: may not be in- 
opportune, as John Hales has always 
appeared to the author to have been the 
firft fcholar in England who recognifed, 
as it deferves to be recognifed, the genius 
and tranfcendent fuperiority of Skakefpere 
to all the poets of ancient or modern days. 
He was, as the Pedigree fhows (A), 
the fixth fon of John Hales, of High 
Church (B), and was born in 1584. 
He matriculated at Corpus Chrifti 
College, Oxford, April 16, 1597, anc ^ 
took his B.A. July 9, 1603 ; was elected 
Fellow of Merton, October 13, 1606; 
took his M.A. in 1609 ; and was admitted 
Fellow of Eton, May 24, 161 3. He 

accompanied 



250 New Place, 



accompanied Sir Dudley Carlton to the 
Hague as his chaplain, and was admitted 
to the Synod of Dort, with reference to 
which he wrote his " Golden Remains." 
His connection with the Synod gave 
a ftrong Arminian turn to his opinions, 
and, as he himfelf expreffed it, he " bid 
" John Calvin good-night." 

In February, 16 19, John Hales re- 
turned from the Synod, and took up his 
reiidence in England; but his peculiar 
theological opinions rendered him ob- 
noxious to Laud, who fummoned him 
to a lengthened interview, in 1638, at 
Lambeth Palace, when, by mutual expla- 
nations, Laud and Hales became recon- 
ciled, fo that a very fhort time afterwards 
the Archbifhop, at a public dinner, pre- 
fented Hales to a canonry at Windfor, 
into which he was inftalled June 27, 
1639, though in 1642 he was ejected 
from the fame. About the time of 

Laud's 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 251 

Laud's death, 1644, he retired from his 
rooms in Eton College, and took up his 
refidence in a private chamber in Eton, 
where he concealed himfelf for a quarter 
of a year, in order to preferve the College 
books and keys, of which he was Burfar. 
He lived upon bread and beer, and in 
his concealment was fo near the College, 
that he ufed to fay, " thofe who fearched 
" for him might have fmelt him if he 
" had eaten garlick." He refufed to 
take the Covenant, and was confequently 
regarded as a malignant, and ejected from 
his fellowship at Eton. There are many 
conflicting ftories about his poverty, and 
the dire neceflity in which he was com- 
pelled to fell, for £700, a part of his 
library to Cornelius Bee, a London book- 
feller. This ftatement, however, obtains 
weight from the confirmation of Dr. 
Pearfon, who wrote the preface to 
" Golden Remains." 

John 



252 New Place, 



John Hales died May 19, 1656, and 
was buried in Eton College Chapel-yard, 
where a monument was erefted to his 
memory by P. Curwen, Efq., and in 
1765 an edition of his works was pub- 
lifhed, edited by Lord Hailes. 

The following extrafts from his will, 
taken from the Eton College Regifter, 
are interefting : — 

" I, John Hales, of Eton, &c. &c, do dispose 
" of the small remainder of my poor and broken 
" estate in manner and form following : — 1st. I 

" give to my sister, Cicely Combes, £5 

" Moreover all my Greek and Latin books I give 
" to my most deservedly beloved friend, William 

" Salter of Richkings, Esq All my English 

" books, together with the remainder of all moneys, 
" goods, and utensils whatsoever, I give and be- 
" queathe to Mrs. Hannah Dickenson of Eton, 
" widow, relict of John Dickenson, lately deceased. 
e ' In whose house ... I have for a long time been 
11 with great care and good respect entertained — 
' ' and her I do by these presents constitute and or- 

" dain my sole executrix As for my funeral, 

" I ordain that at the time of the next Evensong 
" after my departure my body be laid in the 

" Church-yard 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 253 

" Church -yard of the Town of Eton, ... in plain 
" and simple manner, without any Sermon, or 
" ringing of the Bell, or calling of the people 
" together, without any unseasonable commessa- 
" tion or compotation, . . . for as in my life I have 
' ' done the Church no service, so I will not that in 
" my death the Church do me any honour." 

It will be obferved in the above de- 
tailed fafts, that John Hales had taken his 
degree at Corpus Chrifti College thirteen 
years before Shakefpere died, and that he 
was a Fellow of Eton three years prior 
to that event. Alfo, that — doubtlefs 
owing to the family connection with 
Snitterfield — Cicely Hales, his lifter, had 
married into the family of Combe ; and 
laftly, that John Hales's younger brother 
was named Anthony Hales (C). When 
we come to put all thefe facts together, 
there can be little doubt as to the origin 
of John Hales's peculiarly ftrong intereft 
in Shakefpere ; and the ink-printed name 
A. HALES, on the edges of the leaves of 

the 



254 New Place, 



the copy of Montaigne, gives additional 
value to that already moft valuable 
volume ; becaufe we gather from that 
name, and from the fcholarly comments 
and notes in the book, that John Hales, 
after Shakefpere's death, had porTeffion of 
this work, — had annotated it with his 
own erudition, — and that from him the 
book paffed to the poffeffion of his brother 
Anthony ! It appears to the author that 
this circumftantial evidence is as con- 
vincing as any fuch evidence can be, fhort 
of a pofitive entry on the fly-leaf to that 
effed:. That the book fhould have re- 
mained in families connected with War- 
wickfhire, is moft natural ; and that it 
mould belong to a clergyman in the fame 
neighbourhood in 1780, is precifely what 
we mould expect. Let it be remem- 
bered that Mr. Pattefon exhibited the 
book to his friends as bearing the Poet's 
fignature for no mercenary purpofe, and 

with 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 255 

with no view of making a fale of it. 
He valued it as it deferved, and facredly 
preferred it. His fon was induced to 
part with it to the Britifh Mufeum, be- 
caufe it was urged on him that fuch a 
book ought to be depofited in the Na- 
tional library. 

The reader, and particularly the anti- 
quary, will pardon this lengthened diver- 
lion regarding the " ever-memorable 
" John " and his family ; for, believing, 
as the author does, that the name A. 
HALES has enticed him into a refearch 
which he would otherwife have over- 
looked, fo he believes it has furnifhed 
additional evidence in fupport of Sir 
Frederick Madden's paper, and — if fuch 
were needed — confirmed the authenticity 
of the autograph in the only remaining 
book that belonged to the Poet. 

Until faith can be driven by over- 
powering proofs into the wildeft infidelity, 

let 



256 New Place, 



let us cling to the belief that the auto- 
graph is genuine, and that this volume 
did belong to our Shakefpere. Should that 
laft plank, which floats us over the gulf 
of feparation that has gone on widening 
for more than three hundred years, ever 
drift away, and leave us utterly cut afun- 
der from the domeftic life of the man, 
we fhall ftill have, in two of the Palatial 
Halls of England, monuments that muft 
be for ever affociated with the genius and 
glory of the High Prieft of literature. 

A mile away from the Hall in which 
Shakefpere charmed his King and the 
Court, is the Villa to which one of his 
chief interpreters, David Garrick, retired, 
after leaving his profeffion. It is now faft 
approaching a century fince he too muffled 
off this mortal coil ! Half a century 
after Shakefpere's death, all the tangible 
aflbciations connected with him feem to 
have perifhed, or to have been removed 

from 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 257 

from Stratford ! Not fo at Garrick's 
Villa, when a whole century is well-nigh 
complete fince his death. His Villa, his 
garden, his river-fide pleafure-grounds, 
his temple erected to Shakefpere, re- 
main as he left them. There is the 
lawn fkirting the Thames, overhung 
with noble trees, which Garrick mowed 
with delight to Dr. Johnfon, and re- 
ceived from the Doctor, as he furveyed 
the beauty of the fcene, the moralifing 
rejoinder, " Ah, David, thefe are the 
" things that make Death terrible ! *'* 
There is the tunnel under the road, fug- 
gefled by the Doctor ; — " Well, David, 
" if you cannot get over the road, 
" try and get under it." There is the 
drawing-room with the Chinefe-pat- 

terned 



* This anecdote was told me by the Rev. Edward 
Phillips, of Surbiton, to whofe family Garrick's Villa 
now belongs. The ftory is aflbciated with the place, 
and is poflibly now publilhed for the flrrt time. 



258 New Place, 



terned papering, the palm-tree faftiioned 
fireplaces, the chairs and fofas, exactly as 
he left them. There is his bedroom, 
with its prefTes, its furniture, its bed, and 
chintz hangings, fo long delayed in paffing 
the Cuftoms, that David affured his Ma- 
jelly's officers Mrs. Garrick was breaking 
her heart over their delay. Could Gar- 
rick return to Hampton and re-vifit his 
home to-morrow, he would find it, its 
furniture and appointments, as if he had 
only left it yefterday. The reveren- 
tial fpirit in which this Villa has been 
prefer ved, and the furniture of Garrick's 
drawing-room and bedroom refpected, is 
above all praife. In the lapfe of time, 
through whatever hands the property 
may pafs, let us hope that centuries to 
come will find thefe chambers exactly 
as they are now, at the clofe of the 
firft century fince the great tragedian's 
death. But how painful is the contraft 

between 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 259 

between the conservative action exhibited 
at Hampton, and the deplorable, nay, 
wicked, neglect, which prevailed at 
Stratford ! 

A volume of fuch intereft and import- 
ance as Montaigne's " EfTays," publifhed 
in 1603, is precifely the fort of work 
which we ihould expect to find on Shake- 
fpere's bookfhelf. Florio's tranflation 
recommends itfelf becanfe it is a tranfla- 
tion, fince it has been fatisfactorily proved 
to us that Shakefpere's knowledge was 
largely, if not entirely, gathered from 
tranflations of Claffical, French, and Italian 
authors ; and, moreover, — the character of 
Montaigne's mind being peculiarly cal- 
culated to intereft Shakefpere, — had the 
volume in queftion bearing his autograph 
not exifted, it might with fome confi- 
dence be argued that a tranflation of fuch 
a famous author, publifhed about 1603, 
by a near relative of Ben Jonfon's, with 

whom 



260 New Place, 



whom Shakefpere was probably per- 
fonally familiar, would be precifely the 
fort of book of which the Poet would 
porTefs himfelf, and in which we mould 
expect to find his autograph. Let a 
catalogue of all the books published in 
or about that date be placed before any 
one familiar with Shakefpere's caft of 
mind, and it may be arTerted, without 
fear of contradiction, that were he about 
to make a purchafe out of the lot, one 
of the firft he would felect would be 
Montaigne. 

Here, at the threshold, our curiofity to 
learn fomething of the favourite books 
which the Poet may have had about 
him is cut ihort. We know nothing of 
the fources of his learning beyond fuch 
internal evidence as his plays and poems 
afford. If they carry us over the 
threshold, they take us no further. They 
favour us with no glimpfe of the fanc- 

tum — 



Stratford- upon- Avon. 261 

turn — of the reading-ftand, the work- 
table, the inkhorn, or the book-prefs. 
What early advantages Shakefpere pof- 
fefTed — whether from the fchool " i' the 
" church," or other fources — continue a 
profound myftery up to this time; though 
there yet remain quarters for inquiry 
where fome information might be ga- 
thered. The earlieft reliable evidence of 
Shakefpere's being in London dates in 
1589, when he was twenty-five years of 
age. It is poffible he may have been con- 
nected with London for a year or two 
previoufly, but certainly not longer. Until 
he was twenty-three or four he refided 
at Stratford ; and this fact fupports the 
opinion that it was in Stratford the 
whole groundwork of his knowledge 
was obtained, as it was in Stratford, in 
later life, that the greater!: achievements 
of his genius were accomplifhed. Imagi- 
nation alone can aid us to picture him at 

New 



262 New Place, 



New Place when he was comparatively 
wealthy, able to purchafe property and 
tythes in Old Stratford, Welcombe, and 
Bifhopton, and to carry on profitable 
tranfactions in corn or wool. In his 
home he had but one child, Judith, who 
remained unmarried until the year pre- 
vious to his death ! Poor Hamnet, her 
twin-brother, died the year before they 
moved into New Place ! Mrs. Shakefpere 
and this daughter were his conftant com- 
panions. His other daughter and her 
hufband, Dr. Hall, lived hard by, and 
had made a grandfather of him when 
he was only forty-four years of age. A 
grandfather ! when many Englishmen, as 
Johnfon exprefTed it, " having frifked 
" with the dogs," are only beginning to 
think about marriage, now-a-days ! 

The glimpfes we catch of him as he 
paffed along the laft ftage of his life are 
very few, and fcarcely take us into his 

home. 




The Ancient Chalice and Paten of Bishopton, 

From iv hie h SHAKESPERE is f aid to have received the Holy 
Communion. 

(It will be observed that the lid of the Chalice, when 



Will UC ULOCIVCU llldl LUC 11U Ul U1C V^UcllILC, \\ 1 

inverted, forms the Paten, upon the top of which 
is engraved the date, 1571). 



Face p. 262. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 263 

home. Bufinefs tranfactions connected 
with his purchafes at Stratford or in 
London; the pofTeffion of corn; a vifit to 
London in 16 14 to oppofe the enclofure 
of lands at Stratford, — thefe and a few 
other facts of a like character are all the in- 
formation regarding him that has reached 
us. There is infinitely more fatisfaction 
in mufing over a couple of lines in Rowe's 
Life, becaufe their ftatement depends upon 
Betterton's inquiries, made at Stratford a 
few years after Shakefpere's death. He 
fpent his later days " in eafe, retirement, 
" and the converfation of his friends. " 

The words may be applied to the laft 
years both of Shakefpere and of Milton. 
In retirement and (poor though Milton 
was) at eafe, and enjoying the conver- 
fation of their friends, their countrymen 
muft love to contemplate England's moft 
illuftrious fons — the Epic and Dramatic 
Laureates of the Saxon tongue. Of the 

domeftic 



264 New Place, 



domeftic fcene at Bunhill Fields we know 
enough to be enabled to picture it. We 
even know that Milton enjoyed his even- 
ing pipe while joining in the firefide talk. 
We know his daily habits ; his hours of 
ftudy; his writings in London and at 
Chalfont. It is poffible that Milton, in 
that year 1614, when Shakefpere was in 
town, may have feen him pafs down 
Bread Street, Cheapfide, to the " Mer- 
" maid Tavern," — that patriarch of 
London Clubs — there to enjoy a ftoup 
of liquor and a jeft with rare Ben Jon- 
fon. And yet, while a mafs of the moll 
interesting information exifts regarding 
the life of the younger of thefe poets, who 
were actually contemporaneous, nothing 
furvives to admit us into the home and 
fociety of him who Milton calls " our 
" wonder and aftonifhment" — 

" Dear fon of memory, great heir of fame," 

There are two circumflances connected 

with 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 265 

with his laft days at New Place with 
which we are acquainted. " In perfect 
" health and memory, God be praifed," 
he had his Will drafted 25th January, 
16 1 6. February 10th, his daughter 
Judith married Thomas Quiney. We 
are led to conclude that the Will was 
probably drawn up in January with refer- 
ence to his daughter's marriage ; and that 
fubfequent to the wedding, Shakefpere 
was feized with fome fudden illnefs, 
which led to the execution of the Will 
on the 25th day of March. Thefe few 
facts, occurring in the firft three months 
of the year 1616, conftitute the entire 
knowledge we poffefs of the doling days 
of Shakefpere's life. Forty years after 
his death, the then vicar of Stratford, 
Mr. Ward, jotted down fome of the 
ftories current in the place regarding 
the Poet. Among others, he ftated, 
" Shakefpear, Drayton, and Ben Jhonfon 

"had 



266 New Place, 



" had a merry meeting, and, itt feems, 
" drank too hard, for Skakefpear died of 
" a feavour there contracted." 

When we remember that Shakefpere 
died in the prime of life, and that he 
was in perfect health and memory twelve 
weeks prior to his deceafe, it feems likely 
enough that fever was the caufe of death. 
The wedding of Judith would perfectly 
account for Ben Jonfon and Drayton 
being his companions at Stratford at fuch 
a time, though no evidence has as yet 
been produced to prove Jonfon's where- 
about at that date. The ftory of drinking 
too hard is fufceptible of explanation in 
the fame way ; and it is eafy to be under- 
ftood how the conviviality of a wedding 
party at New Place would be converted, 
on the tongues of goffips, into "hard 
" drinking at a merry meeting." Village 
ftories and traditions, as it has been 
already admitted, are worthy of con- 

fideration 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 267 

fideration, but not of truft. They are 
feldom abfolutely true in themfelves, and 
yet they almoft always direct the hiftoric 
inquirer in the right direction to arrive at 
truth. Traditions are like photographs 
— diftorting the prominent features of 
the fubjects they reprefent. Accepting 
the reverend vicar's ftory as a Stratford 
tradition, told him in the rough-and- 
ready phrafeology of the place, and tran- 
flating the meaning of " hard drinking" 
into the joyous feftivity which would be 
naturally obferved at fuch a period as the 
wedding of the Poet's daughter, when 
friends like Ben Jonfon and Drayton 
were gathered around the board of their 
old companion, to drink to the health and 
happinefs of the bride and bridegroom, — 
we have a domeftic picture prefented 
to us of the laft days of Shakefpere, as 
happy in itfelf as it is probable from its 
confonance with his character. 

Though 



268 New Place, 



Though the picture is the bareft fketch, 
yet its touches are true to nature ; and all, 
fave one, we know to be true in fact. That 
one, (the coarfenefs of its colouring toned 
down), harmonifes well with the reft, and 
gives completenefs to the outlines. Let 
fancy fill in the canvas, and the autumn 
days of the Poet's life be painted in the 
golden tints of nature's own autumn time, 
in which funninefs and fadnefs fo myf- 
teriouily blend. Pleafant it is to think 
that the happinefs of New Place was not 
fhadowed by any tedious or agonifing 
ficknefs. There was no lingering difeafe, 
no protracted pain. " In perfect health 
" and memory, God be praifed," our 
Shakefpere lived until his flfty-fecond 
year. He enjoyed his Merry Chriftmas, 
and the converfation of his friends. Then 
came the preparations for the wedding. 
New Place was all alive. Mrs. Shake- 
fpere's fecond-beft bed, like enough, was 

aired 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 269 

aired and made up for the arrival 
from town of Ben Jonfon. Shakeipere 
thought the time befitted that he mould 
make his Will, which was accordingly 
drafted. The great garden was neatly 
trimmed, no doubt, and the borders of 
fnowdrops and crocufes fringed the beds 
about the mulberry tree. The wedding- 
day arrived. Parfon Rogers, the vicar, 
appeared in his beft cafTock, bands, and 
tippet; and robed in clean white linen 
furplice, leaned against the tomb of John 
a Combe, book in hand, until the wed- 
ding party came. Coaches in Stratford 
were unknown ; but 

" Slowly — stately — two by two," 

the train of relatives and friends pro- 
ceeded from New Place to the church. 
The merry marriage-bells rang out their 
welcome, and William Shakeipere, lead- 
ing Judith through troops of friends, 

prefented 



270 New Place, 



prefented her at the altar to the vicar, 
and gave the woman to the man. 

There were no fignatures of witneffes to 
the ceremony neceffary, elfe had we feen, 
perchance, Shakefpere's and Rare Ben's 
upon the fame page of the Regifter. 

The ceremony over, and the vicar un- 
robed, the whole party left the church. 
It was the laft time Shakefpere entered 
it alive, and the laft time he left it ! The 
wedding of his child brought him there 
that day : about nine weeks afterwards his 
children attended in the fame place at his 
funeral ! But on that marriage morn 
none dreamt of, or anticipated, the im- 
pending lofs which not New Place only, 
or Stratford, but England and her litera- 
ture, were to fuffer. The marriage tables 
were fpread ; the cakes and ale were plen- 
tiful; and Parfon Rogers, garnifhing his 
periods with Latinity, after the fafhion of 
his day, told how one of old time, in a 

little 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 271 

little town of Galilee, had bleffed with 
His prefence that marriage-feaft at which 
the " water faw its Lord, and blufhed ! " 

" Meanwhile the day Jinks f aft, the Jun is Jet, 
And in the lighted hall the guejls are met ; 
The beautiful looked lovelier in the light 
Of love, and admiration, and delight." 

It was a merry, happy evening in Strat- 
ford ! No doubt the Halefes, and the 
Quineys, the Hathaways, " my Coufin 
" Green," Thomas Combe, and all the 
lads and laffes of the varied Shakefpere 
connection, as far as Warwick, had col- 
lected at New Place to celebrate the 
wedding, — to " dance and eat plums ; " 
to be merry with the " round " and 
" wooing dance," and to trip it lightly 
to the ftirring notes of " John, come kifs 
" me now !" Subftituting Ben Jonfon for 
" Couiin Capulet," the Poet's own words 
beft ferve our purpofe to imagine the 
fcene : — 

" Welcome, 



272 New Place, 



" Welcome, gentlemen ! ladies that have their toes 
Unplagued with corns will have a bout with you : — 
Ah ah, my mijlreffes ! which of you all 
Will now deny to dance? .... 

/ havefeen the day 

That I could tell 

A whifpering tale in a fair lady's ear, 

Such as would pleafe ! — 'tis gone, 'tis gone, 'tis gone. 

Come, mu/icians, play. 

A hall ! a hall ! give room, and foot it, girls. 
More light, ye knaves ! and turn the tables up, 
And quench the fire, the room is grown too hot. — 
Nay, Jit, nay, Jit, good Coujin Capulet, 
For you and 1 are pajl our dancing days ! '' 

So, while they went on with the dance, 
and joy was unconfined, we can imagine 
thefe pat res confcripti of Stratford, ga- 
thering together in a knot, and the 
"natural wit" of Shakefpere, goaded into 
point and brilliancy by Ben and Drayton, 
burfting forth into corrufcations of fancy ! 
Then the reminifcenfes of London life, of 
Blackfriars and the Globe, would come 
up, and the experiences of thefe wits 
would aftonifh and delight their country 
friends. Shakefpere could tell many an 
anecdote of kings and courts, of Whitehall 

and 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 273 

and Hampton ; and, perhaps, among the 
jovial pledges of the fupper, Ben Jonfon 
might let flip fomething about Gunpow- 
der Plot. Such a " merry-meeting " — 
the celebration of his daughter's wedding- 
day — we have fufricient reafon for fup- 
poflng, prefents us to Shakefpere at New 
Place, in health and vigour, for the laft 
time. A fever feized him. A few brief 
days of ficknefs intervened. Gradually 
the ftrength of the hale man fuccumbed 
before the invading enemy. Neceffity 
compelled the Will to be figned. Gloom 
porTerled the lately happy, feftive, houfe. 
At Chapel Street corner, with whifpered 
words and folemn head-fhaking, the 
friends of the dying man told their 
worft fears. Then there was another 
gathering ! In Holy Crofs, moft like, 
the Church's prayers were heard for 
him who lay a-dying. By his bednde 
Vicar Rogers would ftand, calming the 

woes 



274 



New Place, 



woes of the living, and pointing to the 
hopes of the dying ; while gradually — 
but painleffly as fever does its work — the 
laft enemy ftole in among the group, and 
the windows of New Place were dark- 
ened, and the doors were fhut, and the 
keepers of the houfe trembled, and the 
mourners went about the ftreet, becaufe 
man goeth to his long home ! " The 
" reft is filence ! " 




As 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 2j$ 




As regards the identification of Shake- 
fpere's refidence, there is a popular error. 
Many writers, and even fome of the 
lateft, affert that the Sir Hugh Clopton 
who fucceeded to New Place in 171 9, 
" repaired and beautified it, and built a 
" modern front to it." 

This ftatement is repeated in numerous 
works down to the prefent day. It is not 
a mere error ; it is more than an error, 
for it is totally untrue. The evil refulting 
from it is, that defcribers of New Place, 
whofe works are efpecially read by vifitors 
to Stratford, have betrayed the public into 
a very undeferved amount of regret for the 
destruction of the Rev. Francis Gaftrell's 
houfe, in 1759; that being the houfe to 

which 



276 New Place, 



which a " modern front " is reprefented 
to have been added ; the original ftrudture 
of Sir Hugh Clopton being encafed within 
it, juft as the monaftic Zion Houfe is 
enclofed within that ponderous ducal 
pile on the banks of the Thames, which 
looks like a " Union " outfide, and is 
decorated as an Italian Villa infide. 
Thoufands of perfons have mourned Mr. 
Gaftreirs deftrudtivenefs, caring nothing 
for the " modern front," but grieving 
over the antique interior, where Shake- 
fpere was fuppofed to have lived and died. 
It is defirable that the public fhould be 
fet right concerning this miftake, and 
underftand, that, about the year 1720, one 
Sir Hugh Clopton utterly demolifhed the 
fabric which another Sir Hugh Clopton, 
about the year 1490, had erected. It was 
not a "modern front," but an entirely 
new houfe, which was erected about 
1720; and it was this ftructure (of the 

Dutch 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 277 

Dutch William or Queen Anne's ftyle 
of building) which, devoid of all historical 
afTociation, the ruthlefs Gaftrell razed to 
the ground.* 

Reprefentations of this houfe are ex- 
tant. They only need to be examined, 
and the eye learns inftantly that a com- 
plete rebuilding, and not a " modern 
"fronting," muft have occurred in or 
about 1720. 

Upon the ground-floor the hall door 
occupied the centre, flanked right and 
left with three windows. 

On the firft-floor a row of feven win- 
dows were difplayed, the central one 
opening into a fmall balcony. The three 
centre windows and the doorway, flightly 
projecting, were furmounted by a pedi- 
ment, containing the creft and motto of 
the Cloptons, " Loyavte Mon. Hon?2evr" 
in the tympanum. 

The 

* Appendix K. 



278 New Place, 



The middle of the roof was occupied 
with a fquare platform, furrounded by a 
wooden baluftrade, as frequently feen in 
houfes of the period. Rufticated ftone- 
work,in long and fhort blocks, ornamented 
the corners of the houfe, and a projecting 
Claffic cornice, with dentile decoration, 
gave a finim to the roof. On the oppofite 
page this houfe is reprefented. In it 
Mr. Garrick and his friends were enter- 
tained at the time of the Jubilee, in 
1769. 

It was what auctioneers call a fubftan- 
tial family maniion, very fquare, very 
flat, very red, and in its flat- topped roof, 
with wooden baluftrades, clofely related to 
the ftyle of ftructures delighted in by the 
King of pious and immortal memory. 

About Kenfington, Chifwick, and 
Hammerfmith, any number of "fuitable 
" refidences," built at the fame date, may 
be feen, generally confpicuous as Colle- 
giate 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 279 

giate fchools, or Claffical and Commer- 
cial academies. 

However ponderous, raw, and felf- 
afferting the architecture of that period 
may be, let it be confeffed that it is in- 
finitely grander, more ftately, and more 
real than that pretentious ftyle now pre- 
valent in London, in which " whatever is, 
u is not," and a muddy ftucco is falved 
over the carcafes of houfes to make them 
look what they are not — fubftantial. 

The name of the Rev. Francis Gaftrell 
was execrated in Stratford. He com- 
mitted great offences againft the town. 
This perfon appears to have been the fon 
of Dr. Gaftrell, Bifhop of Chefter, and to 
have held the living of Frodfham, in the 
diocefe of Chefter. 

He married Jane, the daughter of Sir 
Thomas Afton, Bart., whofe family was 
feated at Afton, in Chefhire. At Stow 
Houfe, Stow, a fuburb of Lichfield, about 

half 



280 New Place, 



half a mile to the eaft of the Cathedral, 
lived Elizabeth Afton, filler to Mrs. 
Gaftrell, and, as is ufual with fpinfters 
when arrived at a mature age, commonly 
defignated " Mrs. Afton." 

Subfequently to the Rev. F. Gaftrell's 
death, his widow lived on Stow Hill, in a 
houfe adjoining her lifter's. 

Letters addreffed by Dr. Johnfon to 
this lady are given in Bofwell's Life, as 
alfo feveral to Mrs. Afton. With both 
thefe ladies Johnfon had been intimately 
acquainted from his earlieft years ; and 
the intimacy continued until the day of 
his death. The following paragraphs 
from one of his letters will give the 
reader fufficient evidence of the terms on 
which Johnfon lived with thefe friends : — 

"Bolt Court, Fleet Street, 

"January 2, J 7 79. 
"Dear Madam, 

" Now the New Year is come, of which I wifh you 
" and dear Mrs. Gaftrell many and many returns, it is 
" fit that I give you fome account of the paft year. 

"In 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 281 

" In the beginning of it I had a difficulty of breathing, 
" and other illnefs, from which, however, I by degrees 
" recovered, and from which I am now tolerably free. . . 
w But the other day Mr. Prujean called and left word 
" that you, dear madam, are grown better ; and I know 
" not when I heard anything that pleafed me fo much. 
" I lhall now long more and more to fee Lichfield, and 
" partake the happinefs of your recovery. Now you 
" begin to mend, you have great encouragement to take 
" care of yourfelf. 

"Do not omit anything that can conduce to your 
" health, and when I come I lhall hope to enjoy with 
"you and dearefi Mrs. Gaflrell many pleafing hours. 

"Do not be angry at mv long omillion to write," &c. 
&c. &c. 

" Madam, 
" Your moll humble fervant, 

" SAM. JOHNSON." 

There is an old man, by name Mr. 
Thomas Barnes, now living in Bird 
Street, Lichfield, who has entered his 
ninety-firft year. He was born at Chorley, 
near Lichfield, the firft week in February, 
1772. He was brought up a wig-maker, 
and may be faid to have followed his 
trade up to the prefent time. Mr. Barnes 
is in the enjoyment of all his faculties, 
able to garden, and while gardening to 
recur with the greater!: clearnefs of 

memory 



282 New Place, 



memory to the events of his early life. 
He is perhaps the only perfon living who 
can fay that he remembers Dr. Johnfon. 
Mr. Barnes informed the author that he 
clearly recollects Mrs. Afton and Mrs. 
Gaftrell living at Stow ; and that he re- 
members feeing the Doctor walking with 
thefe ladies in Boar Street, Lichfield, op- 
pofite the Town Hall. Mr. Barnes was 
alfo well acquainted with Mr. Peter 
Garrick, brother of the tragedian, whole 
houfe was fituate in Lichfield, on the 
lite now occupied by the newly-erected 
Literary Inftitution and Probate Office. 

Mr. Barnes had no perfonal acquaint- 
ance with Doctor Johnfon or his female 
friends, Mrs. Afton and Mrs. Gaftrell, 
for whom, it is beyond queftion, the 
Doctor entertained the warmeft and moft 
fincere friendlinels of feeling. 

In glancing round the walls of Lich- 
field Cathedral, on the north fide of the 

great 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 283 

great weft door in the nave, and above 
the door of the fouthern tranfept, there 
ftill ftand tablets to the memory of Mrs. 
Afton and Mrs. Gaftrell. "Still," be- 
caufe it would be well, for the fake of the 
architecture, if thofe unfightly and un- 
harmonious lumps of mafonry had been 
removed, in the late elaborate reftorations 
at Lichfield, to fome lefs confpicuous 
pofitions. Lichfield Cathedral, as it now 
appears, will be contemplated for genera- 
tions to come as a monument whereby 
to recall the Epifcopate of Dr. Lonfdale. 
The lover of church architecture will 
ponder over and revel in the regenerated 
lovelinefs of that exquifite gem of art ; 
and in admiration of the fpirit and muni- 
ficence with which the clergy and gentry 
of the diocefe have gathered round their 
venerated Diocefan, in carrying out the 
glorious work which has been accom- 
plifhed, contrail it painfully with fome of 

its 



284 New Place, 



its lifter edifices, where Cathedral bodies 
are much richer, and far more able, but 
apparently much lefs willing, to encounter 
the facrifices neceffary for much-needed 
reftorations. To wit — look at Durham, 
a Golden See ! That monarch of all 
Norman piles is ftill disfigured with filthy 
white-wafh and yellow-wafh. The con- 
dition of its nave is a difgrace to any 
Cathedral chapter; and, as if to prove that 
ecclefiaftical barbarians ftill furvive, thofe 
ftupendous pillars — the glory of the 
Palatinate — have very lately been out- 
raged by having gliftening lead gas-pipes 
nailed to their fides, furmounted with 
fittings and fhades of the commoneft and 
moil vulgar defcription ! 

As it will be neceffary to fay a few 
words reflecting Mrs. Gaftrell with re- 
gard to the deftruction of the mulberry- 
tree, it may be the moft chivalric if we 
anticipate her blame by founding her 

praife, 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 285 

praife, and adminifter the antidote before 
the bane. The following infcription on 
her monument in Lichfield Cathedral is 
a grandiofe fpecimen of teftamentary 
gratitude : — 

"J. G. died October 30, 179T, aged 81. 

" Sacred to the memory of Jane, daughter of Sir 
" Thomas Alton, of Alton, Baronet, and widow of the 
" Rev. Francis Gaftrell, Clerk, who, to the lait moments 
" of her life, was conftantly employed in acts of fecret 
" and extenlive charity, and on her death bequeathed 
" to numerous benevolent inftitutions a considerable 
" portion of her property. This monument was erected 
" by her five nephews and three nieces, who partook 
" equally and amply of her bounty. 

"Let not thy alms, the holy Jesus cried, 
Befeen of men, or dealt with confeious pride ; 
Sojhall the Lord, whofe eye pervades the Ireajl, 
For thee unfold the manfions of the ble/L 

" O'er her whofe life this precept held in view, 
A friend to want, when each falfe friend withdrew ; 
May thefe chafte lines, to genuine worth afjignd, 
Pour the full tribute of a grateful mind. 

"Sweet as at noontide s fultry beam, thefliower, 
That fteals refrefliing oer the wither d flower, 
Her filent aid, by foothing pity givn, 
Sank through the heart, the dew of gracious heaven, 

" Deeds fuch as thefe, purefliade,fliall ever bloom, 
Shall live through time and glow beyond the tomb. 
Through thee, the orphan owes parental care, 
Bends the glad knee, and breathes the frequent prayer ; 

Through 



New Place, 



Through thee the debtor, from defpondence Jled, 
Clafps his fond babes, and hails his native fhed ; 
Through thee, theflave, unbound his mqjjive chain, 
Shouts with new joy, and lives a man again; 
Through thee, thefavage on a dijtantfhore 
His Saviour hears, and droops with doubt no more. 

" O thou who lingering here, /halt heave thefigh, 
The warm tear trembling on thy pen/ive eye, 
Go, and the couch of hopelefs forrow tend, 
The poor man's guardian, and the widow' s friend ; 
Go, and the path which Aston lately trod, 
Shall guide thy foot fieps to the throne o/God." 

The Rev. Francis Gaftrell appears to 
have had a great defire to acquire property 
in, and alfo about, Stratford. It does not 
feem that he intended to make New 
Place a permanent refidence, but merely 
a temporary retreat for pleafure and 
repofe. In his garden flood " Shakefpere's 
" Mulberry-tree," which all vifitors to 
Stratford were curious to fee and fit 
under. Mr. Gaftrell's temper was forely 
tried by the perpetual invafions of thefe 
vifitors, and in his fpleen he fent forth the 
fiat to cut it down — " with Gothic bar- 
" barity," as Bofwell remarks. Dr. John- 

fon 



Stratford- upon- Av on. 287 

fon told him Mr. Gaftrell did fo u to vex 
"his neighbours." Bofwell adds, "His 
"lady, I have reafon to believe, on the 
"fa?ne authority, participated in the guilt 
" of what the enthufiafts of our immortal 
" bard deem almoft a fpecies of facrilege." 
This facrilege took place in 1756, only 
three years after Gaftrell became porTerTor 
of New Place. 

The wood of the mulberry-tree was 
purchafed by Thomas Sharp, of Stratford, 
watch and clock maker, who manufac- 
tured it into boxes, goblets, and a variety 
of articles for fale. Twelve rings made 
out of the wood were manufactured for 
the Jubilee, 1769. A few valuable 
mementoes ftill remain, highly prized, and 
carefully treafured. 

Among thefe, the Shakefpere chair now 
in the porTeffion of Mifs Burdett Coutts, 
and purchafed by her for £300, is the 
moft valuable. The medallion on the 

back 



288 New Place, 



back of this chair was carved by William 
Hogarth. 

There is the mulberry cup, which was 
ufed by Mr. Garrick, and held in his hand 
when he fang his own fong at Stratford : 

" Behold this fair goblet, 'twas carved from the tree, 
Which, O my fweet Shakefpere, was planted by thee! 
As a relic I kifs it, and bow at iheJJirine, 
What comes from thy hand muft be ever divine: 
Allfliall yield to the mulberry-tree. 
Bend to thee, 
1 Bleft mulberry : 
Matchlefs was he, 
Who planted thee, 
And thou, like him, immortal be!" 
Etc. etc.* 

W. O. Hunt, Efq., Town-clerk of 
Stratford, poffeffes a drawing-room table 

made 



* The following receipt for the fale of mulberry- 
tree wood to Garrick is interelling : — 

" yth July, 1762. 

" Received of David Garrick, Esq., by the hands 
"of Lieutenant Eufebius Silverier, Two Guineas in 
" full for four pieces of Mull-berry tree, which, with 
" the other pieces of the fame tree, I lately delivered 
" to the faid Mr. Silverier for the ufe of the faid Mr. 
" Garrick, I do hereby warrant to be part of the 

" Mulberry 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 289 

made of walnut, the top of which is 
beautifully inlaid with wood from the 
mulberry-tree. The device is unufual, 
being formed by a feries of thin rounds, 
into which a branch of the tree muft have 
been fawn. A block of wood occupies 
the centre of the table, the rounds 
encircle it, and fucceffive circles con- 
tinue being defcribed, until they reach 
the exterior frame of walnut within 
which they are comprehended. The 
heart of the tree, and the varying rings of 
the wood, being feen in every round, a 
piece of furniture has been manufactured 
which is artiftic as a fpecimen of geome- 
trical 



* Mulberry Tree commonly called Shakefpeare's tree : 
' and faid to be planted by him ; and lately cut down 
I in the Rev. Mr. Gaftrell's, late Sir Hugh Clopton's, 
' garde n, in Stratford-upon-Avon. 

" Witnefs my hand— GEO. WILLES. 
" Witnefs hereto — 

Wm. Hunt, Attorney in Stratford. 

John Payton, M after of the White Lion there." 



290 New Place, 



trical cabinet-making, and invaluable in 
its hiftorical affociations. This table be- 
longs to a gentleman who beft deferves to 
poffeis it, both on account of the un- 
flagging enthufiafm he has exhibited 
in everything that has reference to 
Shakefpere (especially of late in fecuring 
New Place to the public) ; and alfo on 
account of the urbanity he has fhown 
vifitors to Stratford, who have had the 
honour of being introduced to him. 

In 1759 what was thought a greater, 
but was in reality a minor offence, was 
committed. Being compelled to pay the 
aiTerTment for the poor at Stratford, as well 
as at Lichfield, his fixed refidence, Gaftrell 
vowed that New Place mould never be 
afferled again, and pulled it down. 

This has been regarded as an unpardon- 
able crime. It was not fo in reality, be- 
caufe the houfe had no connection with 
the Poet, as has been fhown. There can 

be 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 291 

be little doubt that had Homer, Dante, 
TafTo, and Shakefpere all lived in that 
felfsame houfe it would have mattered 
nothing to the Rev. Mr. Gaftrell. He 
would have deftroyed it, whatever had 
been its affociations. 

Even among clergymen, particularly 
the perverfe and obftinate, paffion often 
dominates veneration. 

The Rev. Francis Gaftrell's difpofition 
is a ftudy ; but it is one which cannot be 
now purfued. It may be allowable, how- 
ever, to hint, that inquiry may juftify 
Johnfon's communication to Bofwell. 
Mrs. Gaftrell poffibly did more than 
" participate in the guilt ; " and in the 
murder done upon the mulberry-tree it 
may hereafter appear that me was the 
Lady Macbeth, mitigating the reverend 
Thane to deeds of " Gothic barbarity." 

A Diary written in Scotland by Mr. 
Gaftrell has lately been prefented (among 

other 



292 New Place, 



other gifts) to the embryo, "Stratford 
" Mufuem." Hereafter the public will 
have accefs to this hitherto private MS. 
It tells nothing of Stratford ; but being a 
diary, it reveals fomething of the ftyle of 
thought of the man. A very common- 
place and unpoetic ftyle of thought it is, 
but harmonious with what we mould 
conceive fuch a man would be. It may 
not be gallant to the fair fex, but never- 
thelefs fomething near the truth, to con- 
jecture that Mr. Gaftrell has been abufed 
over much : that, as in all great crimes, fo 
in the mulberry-tree flaughter, " there was 
" a woman in it," aiding, abetting, and, 
as Johnfon fays, "participating in the 
" guilt." Malone, in writing to Dr. 
Davenport, of Stratford, May, 1788, 
quotes a letter received from a lady at 
Lichfield, who afferts that it was Mrs. 
Gaftrell, and not her hulband, who cut 
down the mulberry-tree. In the fame 

letter 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 293 

letter, Malone's correfpondent gives him a 
hiftory of Mrs. Gaftrell's lateft perform- 
ance at Lichfield. Her houfe on Stow 
Hill had been let to a lady at the rental 
of £100. The lady had been very kind 
to the poor in the neighbourhood. Mrs. 
Gaftrell having had fome difagreement 
with her tenant, took meafures to turn her 
out, and determined that the poor jhould 
derive no benefit from that houfe again, 
which (he refolved mould remain empty. 
Malone's correfpondent, in great wrath, 
fays, that Mrs. Gaftrell is "little better 
" than a fiend." 

In this report there is a coincidence 
that cannot efcape obfervation. The fame 
feeling which prompted the deftrudtion of 
the houfe at Stratford, in order that it 
might never again be arTeffed for the 
relief of the poor, likewife prompted the 
clofing of the houfe at Stow Hill, Lich- 
field, that the poor might derive no 

further 



294 New P/ace 9 



further afliftance from thence. It is 
hardly poffible to refift the concluiion 
which the peculiarity of thefe circum- 
ftances fuggefts; and defpite Johnfon's 
friendly regard for Mrs. Gaftrell, we 
muft remember that it is from his own 
lips we hear of that lady's participa- 
tion in her hufband's acts. She was 
undoubtedly a paffionate and imperious 
woman ; and if the whole truth were 
known, it feems very probable that the 
inftigation to the act, if not the carrying 
it into execution, both in felling the tree 
and deftroying the houfe, is attributable 
rather to Mrs., than to Mr., Gaftrell. 

It has been difcovered that there was 
a Chancery Suit pending between Mr. 
Gaftrell and the Corporation, ftrengthen- 
ing a fufpicion that hot blood was roufed. 
The public at this moment knows 
little of the merits of the Gaftrell cafe, 
or the amount of provocation under 

which 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 295 

which that irrafcible divine fuffered. If 
all the charges againft him regarding the 
deftrudtion of the mulberry tree were 
proved, and he were found guilty as the 
real criminal, neverthelefs he cannot be 
found guilty, as he commonly has been, 
of deftroying Shakefpere's houfe, — fimply 
becaufe Shakefpere's houfe did not exift 
for him to deftroy. 



From thefe facts above ground, we 
now defcend to difcoveries recently made 
below ground. 

During the fpring of 1862, that 
portion of the garden of New Place 
fronting the main ftreet, Chapel Street, 
on the weft, and bounded by Chapel 
Lane on the fouth, was excavated to 
the extent of about lixty feet fquare. 
The workmen, having cleared away the 

foil 



296 New Place, 



foil and debris over this large fpace to 
the depth of eight or ten feet, came 
upon a feries of foundations. Some very 
interesting fadls have been difcovered. 
The leading and moft manifeft are, that 
two fets of foundations exift. The one 
muft be thofe of the maniion built in the 
Georgian era, circa 1720; the other 
thofe of Shakefpere's own houfe — the 
" Great Houfe" which Sir Hugh built 
circa 1490, and in which both he and 
the Poet "lived and died." Upon this 
lite there never have been more than the 
two houfes in queftion. For the fake of 
diftindlion, let thefe houfes be deiignated 
refpectively, the " Great Houfe" and 
the " Clopton Houfe." 

It is eafy to diftinguifh the foundations 
of the one from the other, becaufe the 
lines of walls in the Clopton Houfe at 
certain points meet, and interfed: the 
walls of the Great Houfe (efpecially in the 

foundations 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 297 

foundations abutting on Chapel Lane). 
Where they fo meet and interfecl:, the 
Clopton foundations are built over and 
acrofs thofe of the Great Houfe. 

Again : the materials of the Great Houfe 
are for the moft part ftone, which fuch 
foundations — built nearly 400 years ago — 
commonly were. The materials of the 
Clopton Houfe are red brick, and in 
many places the plafter upon the walls 
of the offices in the bafement is ftill 
perfect ; and not only perfect, but (hows 
the coloured outline of the ftaircafe, 
leading from the offices up to the firft- 
floor, as clean and black as if it had been 
painted yefterday. 

Various evidences prove the date of 
this portion of the foundations. 

Firft. The bricks of which the party- 
walls are built have that bright red 
colour, and are fet together with that 
peculiar clofenefs and fharpnefs of edge, 

which 



298 New Place, 



which particularly characterife the period 
of William, Anne, and George I. 

Secondly. The condition of the plafter 
and painting mows that they belong to a 
houfe which muft have been inhabited at 
a comparatively recent period. 

Thirdly. The evidences of habitation 
revealed in the Clop ton foundations prove 
that they were portions of Gaftrell's 
houfe, and verify the ftory of its fudden 
deftrudtion. The kitchen fire-place was 
found quite perfect, and the afh-pit filled 
with the cinders of the coals that may 
have cooked Mr. Gaftrell's dinner in 
Stratford the day before he demolished 
the houfe. A great variety of trifling 
domeftic evidences of this fort abound, 
mowing that thefe " Clopton " founda- 
tions are the bafement ftory of a houfe 
of modern ufe, and that the houfe itfelf 
muft have been erected during the laft 
century. 

Laft 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 299 

Laft of all, the ground above thefe 
foundations when dug out proved to be 
a debris of plafter-of- Paris mouldings, 
cornices, and decorations belonging to 
the ftyle of ornament commonly intro- 
duced in the houfes of the reigns of 
Anne and the firft Georges. When the 
walls of the houfe were knocked down, 
this plafter work was buried in the ruins ; 
but it is now carefully arranged in an 
adjoining houfe for infpedtion. 

There cannot be a doubt about the 
foundations of the Clopton Houfe (1720) 
being identified. 

From them we turn to the much 
fmaller but far more interefting remains 
of the Great Houfe. 

It is evident that the Great Houfe was 
not reftored with a " modern front," 
becaufe there are two diftinct ground 
plans ; and the Clopton Houfe founda- 
tions (as already ftated) run afkew to thofe 

of 



300 New Place, 



of the Great Houfe, interfering them 
at very acute angles. It is alfo evident 
that in laying the walls of the Clopton 
Houfe a great portion of the foundations 
of the Great Houfe were cleared away 
entirely, and that thofe only were left 
untouched which there was no neceffity 
to move. Confequently the foundations 
of the Great Houfe in which Shake- 
fpere lived are comparatively fmall in 
extent. 

The following fadls are illuftrative : — 
Firft. In two feparate places Tudor 
mullions have been difcovered, built into 
the Clopton foundations, mowing that 
fome of the material of the Great 
Houfe was cleared out and ufed again 
in laying the external foundations of the 
modern one. 

Secondly. In that portion of the 
Clopton foundations where the kitchens 
and offices flood, the ground exhibits no 

traces 



CHAPEL LANE 




NASH'S HOUSE 



KEY TO THE PLAN 



FOUNDATIONS : GREAT HOUSE AND 
CLOPTON HOUSE. 



A. Ancient Well of the Great Houfe. 

B. Well, lately difcovered, which appears to have 

belonged to Naih's Houfe. 

C. Kitchen Fire-place. 

D. Piece of projecting Ancient Wall, belonging to 

Shakefpere's, i.e. the Great Houfe ; conjectured 
to be the Foundation of the Entrance Porch way. 

E. The External Wall of the Ancient Great Houfe, 

terminating in N, a Fire-place of the Clopton 
Houfe. 

F. The Site of Nam's Houfe : with Ancient Foun- 

dations. 

G. The Crown of the Vaulting depofited in one of 

the Offices. 

H. The Position at which the Ancient Mullions have 
been built into the Clopton Foundations. 

I, K, L, M. Cellar Windows in the Clopton Foun- 
dations. 

N. Fire-place in one cf the Offices of ditto. 

O. Ditto. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 301 

traces of ancient walls, although it is 
almoft certain that the Great Houfe en- 
tirely covered this iite, fince the frontage 
to Chapel Street, between Chapel Lane 
on the north, and Nam's Houfe (the next 
plot of land on the fouth, where a refi- 
dence now ftands, but which never be- 
longed to New Place), is not more than 
fixty feet in length. 

Two apparent exceptions prefent them- 
felves, viz., a piece of ancient wall which, 
extending under the ftreet, protrudes in- 
wards into the main wall of the Clopton 
foundations; and a few feet removed from 
it, in one of the offices, there are the re- 
mains of the crown of a vaulting. Both 
thefe interlopers, looking ftrangely out of 
place, are at firft fight a complete puzzle. 
Why they were fuffered to abide where 
they now affert themfelves, and are un- 
doubtedly in the way, is the natural con- 
jecture. 

The 



302 New Place, 



The portion of wall that projects from 
the foundations (and outward, under the 
footpath of Chapel Street) is palpably, 
both from polition and conftruction, part 
of the Great Houfe, and may probably 
be one of the foundations of the porch- 
way or entrance of the Great Houfe, 
which would neceffarily require to be 
very ftrong, if above the porch (with its 
ponderous oak beams, and its elaborately 
carved arcades) there rofe an overhanging 
chamber, with oriel window command- 
ing the ftreet. This is mere conjecture, 
which, though it feems probably correct, 
muft be taken for what it appears worth. 

The crown of the vaulting obtrufively 
thrufting iftelf into one of the Clopton 
offices would be a marvel and a myf- 
tery, fuppofing it to belong to the Great 
Houfe; but, with all humility, it may 
be queftioned whether it ever did ! May 
it not, after all, be one (and the only 

one) 



Stratford- upon- Avon. 303 

one) mafs of vaulting, which did not 
break afunder when that reverend 8am- 
fon pulled down a domeftic Gaza about 
the ears of his enemies — the Philiftines 
of Stratford ? May not this conglome- 
rate have quietly dropped from its vaulted 
eminence to the humble pofition on the 
floor which it now occupies, and (inftantly 
covered in with lighter materials) have 
efcaped being dafhed afunder ? This 
fuppofition, if it be correct, would folve 
a difficulty of which there has, as yet, 
been no fatisfactory folution offered. 

Affuming it to be true, the remains of 
Shakefpere's Houfe would be the above- 
mentioned (porch) wall, and the main 
walls of the Great Houfe adjoining 
Chapel Lane, which the Clopton walls 
were built acrofs, and interfered, but 
which remain in their original folid con- 
dition. Thefe main walls are prefer ved 
the entire depth of the houfe, commen- 
cing 



304 New Place, 



cing from the frontage at the junction 
of Chapel Street and Chapel Lane, and 
running eaftward along Chapel Lane. 
Having reached the extreme point to 
which foundations run in that direction 
(about forty-five feet in depth), they turn 
at a right angle northward, and continue 
about twenty feet, when they encounter 
a fire-place of the Clop ton Houfe, built 
over and upon them, in which they be- 
come loft, and are no farther traceable. 

Thefe, then, are the very walls of the 
very houfe in which William Shakefpere 
lived and died. They are inconfider- 
able, it is true, but neverthelefs far 
more extenfive than any one could have 
dared to hope; for when we confider 
that two houfes have occupied this 
fite, and (as is evident) the foundations of 
the former were in a great meafure cleared 
away in order to lay the foundations of 
the latter, — moreover, when we recall the 

paffionate 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 305 

paffionate vexation which caufed the fud- 
den and total demolition of the latter, it 
is a matter of no fmall fatisfadtion to dif- 
cover at leafl Jixty feet of the indifputable 
and veritable foundations of the Great 
Houfe that Sir Hugh Clopton erected 
nearly four hundred years ago, furviving 
the ravages of time and the work of 
man's deftruffivenefs, exhumed and once 
more brought to light in the middle of 
the nineteenth century ; fo that all who 
reverence the name and memory of the 
greater!: genius of the world, may identify, 
and, for themfelves, examine the walls of 
the houfe in which our Shakefpere lived 
and died. 

In the midft of thefe foundations there 
has been iimultaneoufly revealed an object 
of peculiar intereft. It is " Shakefpere's 
" Well " — the ancient well of New Place. 
When the labourers made the difcovery 
in digging out the foundations, it was 

choked 



306 New P/ace, 



choked with the debris of the Gaftrell 
ruins. The well was cleared out, and its 
quoiningftones were found to be as perfect 
as ever. On the 5th of Auguft, 1862, 
another well, equally as ancient, and, if 
poffible, in a better ftate of prefer vation as 
to its mafonry, was difcovered in the em- 
bankment under Nafh's Houfe, at the ex- 
treme northern limit of the New Place 
plot. Two wells attached to the fame houfe 
feem ufelefs ; and therefore it may be 
conjectured, that although this latter well 
is now within the boundaries of New 
Place, it may, at fome diftant period, 
have belonged to, and been enclofed in, 
the adjoining freehold, " Nam's Houfe," 
which is now included in the New Place 
eftate. On the morning after the clear- 
ance, Shakefpere's well had filled with 
feveral feet of the pureft and molt deli- 
cious fpring water. From the bountiful 
fupply of this fpring, every traveller can 

now 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 307 

now flake his thirft, and drink of the 
fame well from which the Poet drank. 

In the courfe of the excavations a few 
articles have been dug up, of no parti- 
cular intereft or value. 

At the bottom of the well, a peculiarly 
primitive flat - candleftick, with long, 
ftraight handle, and very fmall ftand for 
the candle, was found. 

A bone-handled knife, with metal 
ornaments of an antique character. 

A number of tobacco-pipe bowls of 
the time of Charles II. ; the bowls very 
fmall, and the clay imprefled at the elbow 
with the name of the manufacturer, 
" Robt. Legg." 

Figured tiles belonging to a pavement ; 
glafs ; and various pieces of iron-work, 
much corroded. 

Thefe, and a vaft amount of fmall arti- 
cles of domeftic ufe, have been found 
among the debris, which are all collected 

together 



3 o8 



New Place, 



together at Nam's Houfe for the anti- 
quary's examination and difcuffion. 
Among them there may perchance be 
fome trifling objects as ancient as the 
time of Shakefpere; but it would be 
almoft idle to hope that the riddling of 
the vaft amount of earth which has been 
difplaced will bring to light any objects 
of real value, or capable of being afTo- 
ciated with the Poet's tenancy of New 
Place. 



All 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 309 




All the boundaries of Shakefpere's Gar- 
den — including the " Great Garden " — 
have been afcertained, and proved by 
the title-deeds (nearly 1 00 in number) of 
the furrounding properties. The whole 
of this New Place eftate is now purchafed 
and fecured to the public, with the ex- 
ception of one plot occupied by a con- 
venticle-like brick building, entitled "The 
" Theatre." This ftructure has neither 
age, appearance, utility, nor affociation to 
recommend it to the public. The fpot 
where it {lands was never occupied by 
any former theatre ; the building be- 
longs to the prefent century. As a build- 
ing it is to the laft degree ugly, and 
might be miflaken for a village Bethel or 

Ebenezer ! 



310 New Place, 



Ebenezer ! It is an obftrudHon and eye- 
fore in Shakefpere's Garden ; added to 
which, to complete its condemnation, it 
is not a theatre at all ! Having been con- 
verted into a fort of lecture-hall or public 
room, it fuits the purpofes either of a 
Police Court or County Court in the morn- 
ing, and of Ethiopian Serenaders, Con- 
jurors, and Travelling Wonders at night ! 

The building belongs to fhareholders, 
who are willing to fell the property for 
£1,100. In due time it is to be hoped 
that this hideous fabric will be purchafed 
and fwept away, fo that New Place may 
be reftored to its former condition as a 
garden, and preferved as fuch for ever. 

The name of a theatre in Shake- 
fpere's Garden, catches the ear, and fug- 
gefts that it muft be connected with the 
traditions of the place. It is apparent 
that this ftructure has no claim to the 
antiquary's confideration. There is but 

one 



Stratford- upon - Avon. 3 1 1 

one building in Stratford that is in any 
way affociated with the paft — and that is 
a barn. A barn is ftill pointed out in 
which Mrs. Siddons is faid to have per- 
formed in her youth. The tradition is 
probably true, becaufe not only was the 
company of her father, Roger Kemble, 
accuftomed to perform in Warwickfhire, 
but her grandfather, Mr. Ward, was in 
the habit of acting at Stratford. On the 
9th September, 1746, this gentleman 
gave a benefit performance in the (then) 
Town Hall, in order to procure funds for 
repainting the buft of Shakefpere on the 
monument in the church, and reftoring 
the original colours. The play enadted 
was Othello, accompanied with a Pro- 
logue written for the occafion by the 
Rev. Jofeph Greene. Through Ward, a 
diftinguifhed man of the prefent gene- 
ration was connected with a remote 
dramatic era : the late Charles Kemble, 

with 



312 New Place, 



with whofe perfon and performances 
thoufands ftill among us were familiar, 
was Ward's grandfon; and the grand- 
father was an actor in the days of Bet- 
terton. At one of his benefits in Dub- 
lin, the celebrated Peg Woffington made 
her firft appearance, according to the 
ftatement in Boaden's "Life of Kemble," 
though his ftatement "errs in particu- 
" larity ; " for while it fixes the date as 
April 25th, 1760, the records of the 
quiet little church at Teddington tell us 
that on the 3rd of that month, in that 
fame year, Peg Woffington had left life's 
ftage for ever, and was interred on that 
day, aged 42. The miftake made by 
Boaden arofe from his confufing the 
year of Woffington's death with the year 
of her firft appearing for the benefit of 
Charles Kemble's grandfather. The hall 
in which Ward produced Othello, for the 
purpofe of reftoring the monument at 

Stratford 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 3 1 3 

Stratford, no longer exifts ; fo that the barn 
which is affociated with the name of Mrs. 
Siddons, feems to be the fole remaining 
building in the town within which the 
plays of the Poet were reprefented in the 
days that are gone and the years that are 
fled. 



At the commencement of this work 
it was contended that as great a venera- 
tion is felt for Shakefpere by the prefent 
generation as by any that preceded it. It 
muft, at the fame time, be admitted that 
the age is eminently practical. With a 
revived and increafingly fpreading tafte 
for the Beautiful, the men of the Iron 
age demand that the Beautiful fhall be 
combined with the Ufeful. Englifh- 
men are ever ready to give their money 
in honour of a great name; but they 
ftipulate that it fhall not be wafted on 

ufelefs 



314 New Place, 



ufelefs architecture or unprofitable objects. 
It has been the purpofe of this work to 
fhow what ufe has been made of the 
money already provided by the public. 
New Place in its integrity has been fe- 
cured. Shakefpere's Garden is beyond any 
rifks from future fales. The fite of the 
GreatHoufe has beendifcovered. The few 
remains of foundations have been brought 
to light. The garden, as yet in a difturbed 
ftate, will prefently be cleared and re- 
ftored to its former ufe. Once again, and 
for ever, it will be Shakefpere's Garden. 

In this, a good work has been accom- 
pliihed. Much is done; but much remains 
to do. To complete the work well begun, 
public aid will be neceffary, and for 
that aid the public muft be fought. It 
might be well if thofe who were con- 
cerned in the various purchafes of New 
Place, and have examined all the titles and 
records connected with it, were to give 

to 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 3 1 5 

to the world a detailed hiftory of them, 
accompanied by the fulleft plans and 
illuflrations of the property as it exifted 
when put into truft in 1861. Hereafter 
fuch a work, which this fmall volume 
makes no prefumptuous pretence of un- 
dertaking, would be of the higheft value. 
There are very few men among us com- 
petent to perform it ; but among the few, 
Mr. Halliwell has had rare advantages in 
his connection with the purchafes of 
New Place, which no one elfe has en- 
joyed. To him the public feem to have 
a right to look for that fair and faithful 
hiftory — that compilation of the facts re- 
garding New Place, which have hitherto 
been obfcure or unknown, but mull now 
be beft known to him. 

The object with which thefe pages have 
been written, will be fully accomplifhed if 
they fucceed in attracting public notice to 
the good work fo far done, and in ftimu- 

lating 



3i 6 New Place, 



lating the aid which is neceflary to com- 
plete the full redemption of the Poet's 
property. New Place muft for ever be 
affociated with the memory of Shake- 
fpere ; and the mere fight of foundation 
walls belonging to the houfe in which 
he lived and died, cannot fail to excite 
the deepeft intereft in the minds of all 
who are attracted to the fpot by hearing 
of the recent difcoveries. But intereft 
having been excited, and curiofity having 
been gratified, a practical purpofe will 
be required, fooner or later, to fupport the 
fentiment, under the influence of which, 
Shakefpere's countrymen have purchafed 
his garden. We are often aiTured that 
" opportunity is everything. 5 ' If not 
everything, it is unqueftionably a great 
thing; and with regard to the fubjecT: 
under confederation, opportunity has re- 
folved to do her beft in lending it a help- 
ing hand. 

The 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 317 

The fwiftly approaching year 1 864 will 
be the Tercentenary Jubilee of the Poet's 
Birth. Nearly a century ago (in 1769), 
the celebration of his nativity was held 
in Stratford under the direction of David 
Garrick. A ffllier or more ufelefs exhibi- 
tion was never witneffed. Defpite the ex- 
citement which it created at the moment 
in Stratford, there feem to have been 
fome of the inhabitants who fpoke of it 
in contemptuous language, for the " Gar- 
" rick Correfpondence " reveals a paffage 
of letters between the Rev. Mr. Jago,* 
of Snitterfield, and George Garrick, the 
brother of the tragedian, mowing that 
the latter had refented fome uncompli- 
mentary animadverfions of Mr. Jago's 
upon Garrick and the Jubilee. The 
brother's refentment was a neceffary re- 
fult, for never was there a more devoted 

brother 

* Appendix. L. 



3i 8 New Place, 



brother than was George Garrick to 
David. A charming illuftration of this is 
afforded us in the "tender pleafantry " of 
Charles Bannifter at the time of Garrick's 
demife. Whenever George was abfent 
from Drury Lane for any length of time, 
on returning, his invariable queftion to the 
hall-porter was, "Has my brother wanted 
" me ? " It eventuated that the brothers 
died within a few days of one another. 
David Garrick expired at his houfe on 
the Terrace, Adelphi, early on Wednef- 
day morning, January 20th, 1779, and 
was buried in Poet's Corner on the ift 
of February. On the 3rd of February 
George Garrick expired. When the re- 
port reached Drury Lane, Bannifter ob- 
ferved, " His brother wanted him ! " 

But the admiration and affection of 
George for David could not draw the 
fting of the Rev. Mr. Jago's cutting 
obfervations. Their fting lay in their 

truth 



Stratford-upon-Avon, 319 

truth. Garrick in one of his letters 
wrote, "When I was burled about that 
" foolifh hobby-horfe of mine, the Ju- 
* bilee ! " His language is as correal 
a defcription of it as could be given, 
though the wet weather kindly interfered 
to prevent the greateft abfurdity of the 
programme — the " pageant proceffion 
" of Shakefpere's principal characters." 
Owing to the tremendous downpour of 
rain, that pageant was never perpetrated at 
the Jubilee, albeit, there is in the Town 
Hall of Stratford, a fire-fcreen which 
gives an amazing pictorial illuftration of 
the proceffion ; and there is alfo a tradi- 
tion that Mrs. Siddons perfonated Venus 
in the Jubilee proceffion. The fcreen in 
queftion — although it reprefents a difplay 
that never took place, — is well worthy of 
contemplation. Painted by fome village 
artift, it is as grotefque and amufing a pro- 
duction as any one with a keen fenfe of 

the 



320 New Place, 



the ludicrous, would wifh to contemplate. 
Diftant be the day when the Corporation 
of Stratford remove from their Hall, this 
humorous reprefentation of an hiftorical 
event that never took place ! 

With reference to Mrs. Siddons appear- 
ing as Venus in the proceffion of the 
Jubilee, it is true that me did perfonate 
that part, but not at Stratford. Owing 
to the proceffion being warned out of the 
programme, it was dramatifed the follow- 
ing October (1769), at Drury Lane, by 
Garrick, who introduced into it the fongs 
and the odes that had been given in the 
Stratford Amphitheatre. We read of it, 
" Such was the magnificence of the 
" fcenery, and the effect given through- 
" out the piece, that it was fo far efta- 
" blifhed in public favour as to caufe its 
" being repeated during the feafon for 
" upwards of 100 nights." 

It was not even upon this occafion 

that 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 321 

that Mrs. Siddons exhibited as Venus, 
nor, until 1775, — the feafon before Gar- 
rick's final retirement, and that of her firft 
appearance at Drury Lane. Garrick re- 
vived the fpeffiacle of the Jubilee Procef- 
fion during the feafon, and the Lady Ann 
who had trembled in terror before his 
glance of reproach in the great fcene of 
Glofter's wooing, was caft to perfonify 
Venus. Mrs. Siddons, in her Autograph 
Recollections, alludes to the Jubilee per- 
formance : — " He (Garrick) would fome- 
" times hand me from my own feat in 
" the green-room to place me next to his 
" own. He alfo felected me to perfonate 
" Venus at the revival of the Jubilee. 
" This gained me the malicious appella- 
" tion of * Garrick's Venus/ and the ladies 
" who fo kindly beftowed it on me, rufhed 
" before me in the laft fcene, fo that if he 
" (Mr. Garrick) had not brought us for- 
" ward with him, with his own hands, 

" my 



322 New Place, 



" my little Cupid, (the fubfequent auto- 
" biographer Thomas Dibdin), and my- 
" felf, whofe appointed fituations were in 
" the very front of the ftage, might have 
" as well been in the Ifland of Paphos. 
" Mr. Garrick would alfo flatter me by 
" fending me into one of the boxes when 
" he acted any of his great characters." 

Such are the facts which conned: the 
name of Mrs. Siddons with the Jubilee 
Proceffion, there being no connection at 
all with the celebration at Stratford, at 
which, neverthelefs, (he might have been 
prefent; for two years previoufly (Feb- 
ruary 12, 1767), Mifs Kemble (aged 
twelve), and her brother, John Philip 
(aged ten),* had appeared in the parts of 
the Princefs Elizabeth and the Duke of 

York, 



* John Philip Kemble was born at Prefcot, in Lan- 
cafhire, February, 1757. The author was, fome years 
fince, curate of Prefcot, and a frequent vifitor of the hum- 
ble folks who now inhabit the houfe in which Kemble 

firrf 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 323 

York, in the theatre at Worcefter, in 
Havard's tragedy of Charles the Firjl, 
which, though unknown to the modern 
ftage, was at one time highly popular, 
and fo affecting, that when the part of 
Charles was performed at Hull by Cum- 
min gs, the early rival of Kemble, his im- 
perfonation of the miferies of the King 
fo overwhelmed Mifs Terrot, the daugh- 
ter of a garrifon officer, that her emotions 
caufed her inftantaneous death. 

The Stratford Jubilee was celebrated 
for three days : Wednefday, Thurfday, 
and Friday, the 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th 

of 



firft faw light. Like many houfes in the neighbour- 
hood, it is built of the prevailing red fandftone, and is 
whitewashed. It has folidity enough to ]aft for cen- 
turies to come. In former years, when Prefcot was the 
firft town out of Liverpool on the coaching road, thou- 
fands of travellers would pals by the door of John 
Kemble's birthplace. It Hands in the "Lower Road," 
going from the market-place of Prefcot to the neigh- 
bouring railway ftation of Rainhillj and the good man 
of the houfe ufed to take pride in fhowing the bed- 
room " i' which th' great actor cum i'th' wuld, welly 
ni^h srancr a 'undred yeear." 



324 New Place, 



of September, 1769. The town was 
thronged with vilitors from London and 
the furrounding counties. There were 
prefent, among others — 

The Duke of Manchefter. 
Duke of Dorfet. 
The Earl of Northampton, 
Earl of Hertford, 

Earl of Plymouth, J And & ^ Counteffes . 

Earl of Carliile, 
Earl of Denbigh, 
Earl of Shrewfbury, 

Lord Beauchamp, 

Lord Grofvenor, 

Lord Windfor, 

Lord Catherlough, 

Lord and Lady Spencer, 

Lord and Lady Archer, 

Lord and Lady Craven ; 

and a large number of Baronets, Members 
of Parliament, and County gentlemen. 
Connected with the drama there were — 

David Garrick, and his brother George, 

Mr. Foote, 

Mr. Colman, 

Mr. Macklin, 

Mr. and Mrs. Yates, 

Mr. Rofs (Edinbro), 

Mr. Lee (Bath), 

and about one hundred and feventy aftors 

and 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 325 

and actreffes of minor repute from the 
London theatres. 

Among other notabilities prefent was 
James Bofwell. Dr. Johnfon was flay- 
ing with the Thrales, at Brighton, and 
could not be induced to honour the 
Jubilee with his prefence. Bofwell fays, 
" I was very forry that I had not his 
" company with me at the Jubilee in 
" honour of Shakefpeare, at Stratford- 
" upon-Avon, the great Poet's native 
" town. Johnfon's connection both with 
" Shakefpeare and Garrick founded a 
" double claim to his prefence, and it 
" would have been highly gratifying to 
" Mr. Garrick. Upon this occafion I 
" particularly lamented that he had not 
" that warmth of friendfhip for his 
" brilliant pupil which we may fup- 
" pofe would have had a benignant 
" effect on both. When almoft every 
" man of eminence in the literary 

" world 



326 New Place, 



" world was happy to partake in this 
" feftival of Genius, the abfence of 
" Johnfon could not but be wondered at 
" and regretted." 

Perhaps the verdict of pofterity may 
be the reverfe of Bofwell's. The " Great 
" Cham " was not partial to buffoonery, 
and it is probable that he kept away 
from Stratford becaufe he would not en- 
courage his " brilliant pupil " aftride of 
his " foolifh hobby horfe."* Johnfon had 

no 



* A number of letters regarding the Jubilee of 
1769, addrefled by Garrick to Mr. Hunt, of Stratford 
(grandfather of the prefent Town Clerk), are in exig- 
ence. In one of them Garrick fays : — "I heard yefler- 
" day, to my furprife, that the country people did not 
" feem to reliih our Jubilee, that they looked upon it to 

" be Popifh, and that we fhould raife ye d 1, and 

" would not. I fuppofe this may be a joke, but after 
" all my trouble, pains, labor, and expenfe for their 
" fervice and the honour of yr county, I fhall think it 
" very hard if I am not to be received kindly by them 5 
" however, I lhall not be the firft martyr for my zeal. 
" I am, dear Sir, 
te Always in a hurry, but yours fincerely, 
"D. GARRICK." 

" Pray tell me fincerely what common people fay." 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 327 

no tafte for mafquerading, which Bofwell 
had. The occafion was propitious. 
During the day he appeared in the 
ftreets of Stratford with the words 
" Coriica Bofwell " difplayed in large 
letters round his hat ; and at the evening 
entertainment he exhibited himfelf as a 
Corlican Chief, with " Viva la Liberia " 
infcribed on the front of his cap ! John- 
fon's prefence at fuch fooling, would have 
been much to be regretted. 

The only portions of the Jubilee which 
deferve record, were the performance, in 
Stratford Church, of Dr. Arne's Oratorio 
of 'Judith, under the direction of Arne 
himfelf, for which he received a payment 
of £60 from Garrick; and the Oration 
pronounced by Garrick, in the Amphi- 
theatre. The Odes, which were partly 
fpoken by him, and partly fung, con- 
tain nothing to recommend them to 
our perufal ; but one paifage from the 

" Oration 



328 New Place, 



" Oration in honour of Shakefpere, 
"written and fpoken by Mr. Garrick," 
may fitly be reproduced. Alluding to 
the " ufes " and opportunities of life, at 
the clofe of his oration, Garrick faid, — 

" In thefe fields, where we are pleafed 
" with the notion of doing him honour, 
" he is mouldering into duft. 

c Deaf the prats' d ear, and mute the tuneful tongue. ,' 

" How awful is the thought ! Let me 
" paufe. If I fpeak, it muft be in my 
" own character and in yours. We are 
" men ; and we know that the hour 
" approaches with filent but irrefiftible 
" rapidity, when we alfo mail be duft. 
" We are now in health and at eafe ; but 
" the hour approaches when we mail be 
" fenfible only to ficknefs and to pain, — 
" when we fhall perceive the world gra- 
" dually to fade from our fight, and clofe 
" our eyes in perpetual darknefs." 

Ten 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 329 

Ten years fubfequently the world had 
faded from Garrick's fight. Time's courfe 
is fo rapid, that another centenary Jubilee 
is clofe at hand. What men of eminence 
in the literary world, what nobles or 
princes of the land, will collect at Strat- 
ford — and in what manner the Jubilee 
is to be conducted — muft fhortly be con- 
iidered. It may, however, be fuggefted 
to thofe interefted in the reftoration of 
New Place, and to thofe who will arrange 
the programme of the Jubilee, that they 
mould remember Garrick's folemn pero- 
ration on the "ufes" of life, and, efpecially 
in this practical age, determine upon 
foliciting public fympathy and fupport 
in April, 1864, for practical purpofes, 
and not for a frivolous pageant to the 
memory of a great man. The beft 
honour which can be paid to his memory 
will be the promotion of objects ufeful to 
the body of men in connection with 

whom 



33° New Place, 



whom Shakefpere made his name and 
fame. 

That the Tercentenary of his birth 
mould be celebrated at his birthplace is 
a propriety which every one will recog- 
nife; but what muft be there, may alfo 
be elfewhere. There is no reafon why 
the people of the Metropolis mould not 
commemorate the occafion, as well as the 
feledl few whofe time and means will 
allow them to congregate at Stratford. 
Such a double celebration feems almoft 
a certainty. But, whatever be the form 
of feftival held, whether in London or in 
Stratford, the age we live in, warns all 
feniible men againft the repetition of any 
fuch mumming as took place under Gar- 
rick's programme of 1769. Foote, who 
was prefent, has given us his definition of 
that occafion : — " A Jubilee is a public 
" invitation, circulated by puffing, to go 
" poft without horfes, to a borough 

" without 



Stratford- upon- Avon, 3 3 1 

" without reprefentatives, governed by 
" a mayor and aldermen who are no 
" magiftrates, to celebrate a great poet, 
" whofe own works have made him im- 
" mortal, by an ode without poetry, 
" mufic without melody, dinners with- 
" out victuals, and lodgings without 
" beds ; a mafquerade, where half the 
" people are bare-faced ; a horfe-race up 
" to the knees in water ; fireworks extin- 
" guifhed as foon as they were lighted ; 
" and a gingerbread amphitheatre, which, 
" like a houfe of cards, tumbled to pieces 
" as foon as it was finished." Foote's 
cauftic humour, if not true in its defcrip- 
tion of the Jubilee, is perfectly true in 
outline ; the grotefque colouring of the 
picture is its only untruth. 

It is devoutly to be wifhed, that the 
follies of 1769, may be a warning to the 
people of 1864. To begin and end with 
a (how, and to accomplifh no permanent 

good, 



33 2 New Place, 



good, is not confonant with the tafte of 
the prefent day. Whether at Stratford or 
in London, or at both places, the Tercen- 
tenary celebrations muft feek the public 
fympathy on behalf of fome public good. 
If there were but the one celebration at 
Stratford, it might be well to devote all the 
funds collected, to the completion of the 
propofed purchafes, the laying-out of New 
Place Gardens, and the erection of fome 
monumental ftructure, commemorative 
of the purchafe and of the 300th 
celebration of the Poet's Birth, but, 
while beautiful as a piece of architec- 
ture, at the fame time a ftructure that 
fhould be practically ufeful for literary 
purpofes, and a benefit to Stratford and the 
nation. In the Metropolis, the refults of 
a Jubilee celebration, might probably be 
devoted to fome other object. It appears 
natural, that the object mould be Metro- 
politan ; and if fuggeftions were wanted, 

numberlefs 



Stratford-upon-Avoyi. 333 

numberlefs fchemes, without doubt, would 
quickly be propofed. But it mould never 
be forgotten that the Jubilee is in honour 
of Shakefpere, and that thofe have the 
beft claim to enjoy the benefits of the 
public largefs, who, in this day and gene- 
ration, follow the calling of the man, to 
whofe honoured memory, the commemo- 
ration is dedicated. 

True it is, there are many who profefs a 
confcientious difapproval of the drama, and 
who, neither diredly nor indiredlly, would 
encourage the " poor player." It may be 
a fubject of regret — but, neverthelefs, it is 
a fad; which cannot be denied — that fome 
perfons afTed: to condemn the works of 
Shakefpere himfelf. With this undoubted 
fad: in mind, it will be defirable, having due 
refpect to tender confciences and hopelefs 
prejudices, to prefent fome objed: for pub- 
lic fympathy at the Jubilee, which may, if 
poffible, difarm all cavil and objection. 

If 



334 New Place, 



If the depredators of Shakefpere, and 
the difapprovers of the profeffion to 
which he belonged, be taken on their 
own ground — and, for the fake of argu- 
ment it be momentarily granted that 
the Puritanical view of the drama is its 
righteous and proper eftimate; in the 
fame proportion that its influence is af- 
ferted to be evil and deftructive, muft 
the fympathies and folicitude of fuch 
perfons, if fincere in their belief, be 
aroufed on behalf of one helplefs clafs 
connected with Shakefpere's profeflion. 
Whatever the player may be, the player's 
child muft be an object of concern to 
all who are interefted in the education 
of the young ; — but he muft be doubly 
fo to thofe, whofe duty it is, in the lin- 
cerity of their principles, to attempt the 
refcue of that child, from influences 
which they believe deftructive of its foul's 
welfare ! 

It 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 335 

It is to be hoped that the fubjeft of 
education would prefent a common 
ground, whereon diverfities of opinions 
might meet to accomplifh, a truly Chris- 
tian and beneficial objed:. 

In the abundant philanthropy of the 
prefent age, fchools and inftitutions have 
lprung up on every fide, wherein the 
greater the degradation of the young, 
the greater the fympathy of the pro- 
feffed religious world ! The fallen, the 
friendlefs, the erring, and the outcaft, 
have been the recipients of Chriftian 
compaffion and folicitude. Every right- 
feeling perfon muft pray that God's blef- 
fing may protedt and profper our Ragged 
Schools, our Reformatories, our Peni- 
tentiaries, and that they may, in their 
profperity, reflect bleffings on the heads of 
all earneft men and women, who, in their 
fupport, have practically evinced the firft 
of Chriftian virtues. But there are 

fpheres 



336 New Place, 



fpheres in life, removed alike from abfo- 
lute want, and affociation with crime ; 
where fympathy is not lefs needed, and 
where refpedtable poverty — that owes 
no man anything — fhrinks from feeking 
aid, and values felf-dependence with as 
honourable a love, as the wealthier!: and 
nobleft of the land ! 

Among Shakefpere's profefhonal de- 
fendants, there are many fuch, who, 
owing to the fmallnefs of their falaries, 
are hindered from procuring for their 
progeny that found teaching which every 
Englifh child mould enjoy ; and who, 
conftrained by need, are compelled to in- 
troduce their offspring in their early years 
to fubordinate fituations in the theatres, at 
a time when the child's moral and phyfi- 
cal conftitution require, the one bring- 
ing up in the way it mould go, the other, 
the vigour derived from regular habits, 
early rifing, early reft, and unbroken 

repofe. 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 337 

repofe. It is unneceffary to point out 
that the oppofite of all this, is the in- 
evitable refult of engaging a child in the 
arduous bufinefs of a theatre. The intel- 
lect, is left untrained, the ftrength of the 
body is fapped and undermined, and it is 
to be feared that in a calling peculiarly 
open to temptation, moral deterioration 
may frequently accompany phyfical ex- 
hauftion. 

In that Royal College which has been 
honoured with the patronage of, and has 
been watched over with intereft by, the 
higheft perfonages in the realm, the de- 
fign of the promoters is underftood to be, 
not only the provifion of homes for de- 
cayed adtors and adtrefles, but alfo the 
completion of a Dramatic College in the 
fuller fenfe of the phrafe, wherein child- 
hood and old age may be affociated — 
wherein Spring and Winter may flourifh 
together, and both put forth their feafon- 

able 



338 New Place, 



able flowers. Some of the nobleft of 
Old England's charities exhibit this 
touching union ; and never has the 
fatirift of this age more tenderly moved 
the hearts of his readers, than in that 
paflage of the Newcomes, where the 
aged brother of the Charter Houfe, liftens 
to the chapel-bell calling the fchoolboys 
to their prayers, and replies to his own 
folemn fummons, "Adfum!" The Char- 
ter Houfe is one of many fimilar foun- 
dations fcattered about the land. It 
was a happy thought on the part of 
thofe who were moft earneft in inflitu- 
ting the Dramatic College, to defire that, 
within the boundaries of the fame inftitu- 
tion, a fchool for the player's child mould 
be erected hard by the homes of thofe 
who had fallen into the fere and yellow 
leaf. The homes are completed, but this 
good work has not yet been begun ! 
Is there not, in fuch an undertaking, a 

beneficial 



Stratford-upon-Avon. 339 

beneficial and charitable object, to which 
the profits of a Metropolitan Tercen- 
tenary celebration of Shakefpere's na- 
tivity might be dedicated ? The educa- 
tion of the children of actors can be ob- 
jected to by none, and is a righteous 
and goodly aim, that may properly be 
approved by all ! 

It would be a great work accomplifhed 
— a work of genuine and practical honour 
to the memory of the Poet, if on a fes- 
tival, which can only be celebrated by 
every third generation, a fufBcient fund 
were raifed for building and endowing 
with a few " Shakefpere Scholarships," 
a Dramatic College School, wherein the 
children of the hard-worked and humbly- 
falaried artifts could be provided with 
found and liberal education, fitting them, 
when adults, to take their choice of other 
callings in life than thofe of their parents, 
if fo diipofed ; but, under any circum- 

ftances 



34-0 New Place. 



fiances, preferving them in their child- 
hood, from the turmoil, fatigue, prema- 
ture conftitutional decline, and inevitable 
precocity, of baby actors, and Thefpian 
phenomena. 

By the erection of fuch a fchool, 
Shakefpere's Jubilee, in 1864, would be 
made a genuine and abiding Jubilee in 
the families of hundreds of our country- 
men, who are painftaking, flriving, and 
reipeflable men, - — who would blefs, 
with grateful hearts, the friends that 
fympathife with them in their narrow 
circumftances, — friends that abhor the 
afTumption of patronage, and cordially 
embrace a rare opportunity of mowing 
concern and care for the player's children, 
on the feftival which commemorates that 
red-letter day in England's calendar, when, 
three hundred years ago, fweet Shakefpere 
was himfelf a child ! 



APPENDIX. 

A — page 16. 

The Family of Bott. 

Though connderable information has been difcovered 
in the preparation of this work regarding the Botts, as 
given at pp. 75 to 85, nevertheleis, I have not thought 
it worth while to purfue my inquiries far into their 
hiftory, as I fhould had there been anything of intereft 
as regards Shakefpere likely to be arrived at by the 
refearch. 

It will be obferved that I have fpoken in ftrong 
language regarding W. Bott 3 and, at p. 86, have called 
him a "grafping lawyer." From the evidence which 
has come into my pofTeffion in refearches regarding 
the fales of New Place, I find that Bott mult have 
been a thoroughly unprincipled, pettifogging attorney, 
doing all the dirty work of Stratford and its neigh- 
bourhood. His character oczes out through the 
medium of the following proceedings taken in the 
Star Chamber (temp. Elizabeth) ; and however meagre 
the details may be, ftill new light is difcernible regard- 
ing fome members of his family and his pofition with 
reference to W. Underhill. 

By the Bill of Complaint we are informed that 
John Harper, of Henley-on-Arderne, co. Warwick, 
who was pofTefTed of certain lands and tenements in 
Henley, Ownall, Wotton, and Whitley, in the county 
aforefaid, was in danger of being taken in execution 
under a diftrefs at the fuit of Sir Edward Alton, Knight. 
Under which circumftances, being himfelf a plain and 

fimple- 






342 Appendix. 

fimple-minded man, he was induced to feek the aflift- 
ance of W. Bott, of Stratford, a man of about fifty 
years of age, and reputed of fome experience and 
ability, to advife him properly. 

Bott had two fons and three daughters, and finding 
his client pofTefled of fome fubftance, although under 
age, made up a match between him and his daughter 
Iiabel ; and further, on the 10th of April, 1563, devifed 
a deed of feoffment, whereby Harper mould aiTure to 
him and others, in fee fimple, all his lands to certain 
ufes, unknown to the petitioner, but as far as he con- 
ceives, to the ufe of petitioner and wife, and their 
heirs, &c, with remainder to one of Bott's fons, pro- 
mifing to extricate him from his difficulties, alleging 
it was for the better advancement of his wife; and 
that the faid deed was only a conveyance of his goods, 
and " that becaufe the goods remained in the houfe, he 
" mufl make livery of them by the ring of the door." 
The unfufpe6ling youth fell into the fnare, being 
eafily led to do whatever his father-in-law initru6ted 
him, who, not content with this, if we may believe 
the allegations of the petitioner, forged, erafed, and 
altered other deeds concerning the faid conveyance ; 
indeed, in the preamble of the bill, which we muft 
bear in mind was framed probably fome fix or feven 
years after (Mrs. Harper being dead in the interim, 
without children), he denounces him as " a man 
" clearly void of all hone/iy, fidelity, or fear of God, and 
" openly detecled of divers great and notorious crimes, as, 
" namely, felony, adultery, whoredom, falfehood, and 
(e forging, a procurer of the di/inherifon of divers gentle- 
" men your Majesty's fubjecls, a common barretour, and 
" Jlirrer of fedition amongji your Majefly 's poor fub- 
" jecls" 

This nefarious proceeding, executed without the 
confent or privity of petitioner, places him in the 
pofition that he cannot leafe his lands, &c, without 
Bott's confent, and that, in point of fact, he is only 
tenant thereto for life. Having thus wrefted peti- 
tioner's 



tioner's pofleffions, he withholds too the evidences and 
muniments of the fame — the contents, and even the 
number of which are utterly unknown to petitioner. 
He prays, therefore, a writ of lubpena for W. Bott 
perfonally to appear and aniwer thefe charges. Thus 
far the complainant's ftatement. 

Bott denies the fads alleged as flanders emanating 
from complainant and his adherents, and declares that 
if the premifes were true, it were determinable at 
common law, and not in the court of Star Chamber, 
Hating that about fix years ago, complainant being a 
minor, did marry his daughter Ifabel, at which time he 
promifed on arriving at twenty-one he would make her 
a jointure ; but inftead thereof, becoming improvi- 
dent, he mortgaged his lands, and fell into difficulties. 
Thereupon, coming to his father-in-law in tears, he 
befought his afliftance, which he readily promifed on 
thefe conditions, viz., that he ihould allure his eftate, 
or rather the portion left uniquandered, to himfelf and 
wife, or the longeft liver of them, then to their iflue, 
failing which, to the various fons and daughters of the 
faid Bott in fucceflion, for which defendant undertook 
to fatisfy Sir Edward Afton and divers other creditors. 
The catalogue of crimes hurled at his reputation he 
meets by a countercharge, and declares it to be by the 
"falfe and malicious procurement of one William Under- 
" hill and Rowland Whelar, which that the faid defen- 
" dant is ready to aver and prove that the faid Underhill 
"is a Jiirrer of J edition, and of a, very evil confcience, 
" andfo meet to join with the faid Whelar, avery common 
" barretour and a vagabond." Further, he denies the 
truth of the ftatement about his own procurement of 
the marriage, for the complainant was married three 
or four years before the affair of Si*- Edward Afton. 
All the other charges he denies in toto feriatim. 

The replication of Harper denies the ftatement 
about the jointure, and that whatever mortgage he 
made, which would be but trifling, was at Bott's miti- 
gation. The debts, too, as paid by defendant, were of 

no 



no magnitude ; fome eight pounds would cover the 
whole, including that of Sir Edward Alton, in difcharge 
of which defendant yet detaineth £9, which petitioner 
recovered againft Sir Edward, and detains moreover a 
fum of 40 marks which he promifed to give with his 
daughter as her dowry, &c. 

So far from W. Underhill being meet to be matched 
with any vagabond, he is, on the contrary, " a gentle- 
" man of a worjhipful calling in his country, and very 
11 well known to all honeji men to be of good eftimation, 
" and of very good name, report, and credit, a maintainer 
" °f J u Jiice, and a reprejjer of evil doers." That Sir 
Edward Alton's fuit againft petitioner was commenced 
long before his marriage, is alio untruly alleged. 

The rejoinder by Bott denies generally the truth of 
the ftatements in the. foregoing replication, and fays 
further that he never did promife complainant any 
bigger fum than aBio, which he did pay before they 
went to the church to be married, and avers that com- 
plainant is maintained and fupported in his flanders by 
the faid W. Underhill *and his companion, Rowland 
Whelar, as named in the anfwer. 

By taking the year 1563 as the date of the marriage, 
or thereabouts, and adding fix years, the time noted 
by Bott in his anfwer, the probable date of thefe pro- 
ceedings would be about 1569. 

It will be feen at p. 77, that there was a near 
relationship at one period between the Botts and the 
Cloptons. In the Domeftic Correfpondence, Eliz., 
vol. cxxxvii., art. 68, anno. 1580, among the Gentlemen 
and Freeholders in the Countie of Warwick appears, 
" Hundred of Hemlingford, 
" George Bott." 

In another fimilar work appears, 
" Solyhull, 

" George Boote." 

(Intended for Bott, as there was a family fo named at 
Solyhull at that date.) 

From 



Appendix. 345 



From various traces of the name, cropping-up in this 
way, I have fatisfied myfelf that an extenfive family 
of the Botts was fcattered about VVarwickfhire in 
Shakefpere's time; and if it were worth while, a very 
flight inquiry in the parifh registers in the neighbour- 
hood of Stratford would probably fupply abundant evi- 
dence concerning them. There was a moment when I 
entertained the fuipicion that the Botts had been 
mixed up with fome foul play perpetrated in the 
Clopton family, in the time of William and Anne 
Clopton. 

On peruiing the following documents, any reader 
would naturally fuppofe, as I at firft did, that a William 
Clopton, and Anne his wife, living about the years 
1580 to 1589, would be the William and Anne 
marked "C" upon the Pedigree, more efpecially as 
the circumftance of this William Clopton dying without 
an heir, gives countenance to the allegations in the 
following Bill of Complaint. I had not then compiled 
the Clopton Pedigree, and confequently was not aware 
that William Clopton (C) lived until 1592, and that 
Kentwell, in Suffolk, was no part of the property of 
that branch of the Clopton family feated at Clopton, 
W r arwicklhire. This proves the neceffity for an inti- 
mate acquaintance with family pedigrees when we 
deal with public records, otherwife a confounding of 
peribns may eaiily arife, fuch as in this infrance would 
be moft natural, where we find documents relating to 
peribns of particular names at a fixed date, and then 
difcover that peribns of the fame names — man and wife 
— and at the fame date, lived in another county. 

Bill of Complaint of Anne Clopton, &c* 
" Showing that her late hufband, William Clopton, 

" Efq. 



* Proceedings in Chancery, temp. Eliz., C. c. 13, No. 3. 
Date inscribed on the top, 12 May, 1589. Counts ot three 
documents only, the answer ot the defendants not appearing 
to be extant. 



346 Appendix. 

" Efq., of Kentwell, in county of Suffolk, leafed fundry 
"manors and lands to William Clopton of Groughton, 
" and another, to pay ^40 per annum for the fame, 
"&c. &c. Thomas Clopton (a brother of the half 
" blood to the faid William, complainant's late hulband) 
" ufed fubtle means to obtain the lands from the right 
" heirs, perfuading the faid William Clopton who was 
"enfeebled by long ficknefs, to dilinherit his next heirs, 
" and to convey his whole eftate to the faid Thomas 
" Clopton, inducing him to make his will by the which 
" he left only one legacy of very fmall amount to one 
" of his fervants, and nothing to his wife or his lifters, 
" or lifters' children, &c. &c. Prays a writ of fubpcena, 
"&c. &c, as Thomas Clopton, William Clopton of 
" Groughton, and John Bowfell, the other defendant, 
" have procured the property to be conveyed to them- 
selves, and have made themfelves matters of all." 

Replication of Anne Clopton to the Anfwer of 
William Clopton and John Bowfell : 

" States that John Bowfell, defendant, was fervant 
" to William Clopton, complainant's late hulband, and 
" that during his long continued illnefs it was infinuated 
"by defendants to William Clopton, that Anne his 
" wife, and one Thomas Smith, a nephew of William 
" Clopton, employed poifon, whereupon Ihe delired that 
"ihe might go away from him for fome little time, 
"until he were recovered and better perfuaded con- 
cerning fuch ilanderj to which her hufband replied 
"that Thomas Clopton was a bad, lewd fellow, and 
"ufed fuch fpeeches of her as were not decent to 
"rehearfe. Finally, Ihe went to the houfe of one 
"Lady Pelham, of Suffex, and there abode until 
" Edward Lovell, now fervant to Thomas Clopton, 
" adminiftered a potion to William Clopton, which 
"was a purgative or fuch like, from the effects of 
" which he died, whereas had it happened during her 
"relidence with him, ihe would have been charged as 
"acceflbry to his death." 

The 



Appendix. 347 

The Rejoinder of Thomas Clopton, Efq., and John 
Bowfell, to the above Replication of Anne Clopton : 

" Denies the allegations attributing her leaving to the 
" indifcreet behaviour of complainant, and unnatural 
" dealing towards her late hufband, whom me neither 
" loved nor obeyed ; condemns the Statement about 
" Lovell as ilander ; depofes to the perfect flate of 
"the faculties of William Clopton, and his powers of 
"memory and appetite, &c." 



B — page 16. 

It would appear from the mention in this place 
"between 1563 and 1570," that there is fome uncer- 
tainty about the date of fale by W. Bott to W. Under- 
bill, whereas the exact date, Michaelmas Term, 1567, 
is given with a copy of the Fine at p. 85. The truth 
is, that when paragraph 3rd, p. 16, was Stereotyped, 
I had not discovered the Fine given at p. 85 ; and 
rather than cancel the page, I preferred to make the 
correction in this place. 



C— page 19. 

The general reader had better be warned, particu- 
larly if he Should be a reader of Malone, againft falling 
into the error into which that author, in the original 
edition of his Shakelpere's Works, would betray him. 

The Statement there made, both as to the Nafh 
pedigree, and as to the manner in which New Place 
paned from owner to owner, is completely erroneous. 
The fact is well known to every Shakefperian fcholar 
but it may be as well to fet it forth diftinclly. Malone 
fays — 

"Sir 



" Sir John Clopton, Knt. (the father of Edward 
" Clopton, Efq., and Sir Hugh Clopton), who died at 
" Stratford-upon-Avon in April, 17 19, purchafed the 
"eftate of New Place, etc., fome time after the year 
"1685, from Sir Reginald Forfter, Bart., who married 
"Mary, the daughter of Edward Nalh, Efq., coufin- 
"german to Thomas Nalh, Efq., who married our 
"poet's grand-daughter, Eliz. Hall. Edward Nafh 
"bought it after the death of her fecond hufband, 
" Sir John Barnard, Knt. By her will, fhe directed 
"her truftee, Henry Smith, to fell the New Place, 
"etc. (after the death of her hufband), and to make 
"the firft offer of it to her coufin, Edward Nafh, 
"who purchafed it accordingly. His fon, Thomas 
" Nalh (whom, for the fake of diftin&ion, I fhall call the 
"younger), having died without iffue in Auguft, 1652, 
"Edward Nalh, by his will, made on the 16th March, 
" 1678-9, devifed the principal part of his property to 
"his daughter Mary, and her hulband, Reginald 
"Forfter, Efq., afterwards Sir Reginald Forfter ; but 
"in confequence of the teftator's only referring to a 
" deed of fettlement executed three days before, with- 
" out reciting the fubftance of it, no particular mention 
" of New Place is made in his will. After Sir John 
" Clopton had bought it from Sir Reginald Forfter, he 
"gave it by deed to his younger fon, Sir Hugh, who 
"pulled down our poet's houfe and built one more 
"elegant on the fame fpot." 

Malone's errors in the above paflage are extraor- 
dinary, becaufe they are not only errors as to pedigree, 
but errors as to fales and purchafes, which the fmalleft 
amount of inveftigation would have proved to him to 
have been incorre6t. It is eafy to fet him right upon 
the pedigree, but impoffible to conceive how he could 
be fo milled as to make the feries of egregious blunders 
which will appear in the above extract when it is 
compared with the correct ftatement, in par. 7, p. 19. 

I give the pedigree which was accepted by Stevens 
and Malone firft, and then the corre6t one. By the 

firft 



w 
o 

s 

Oh 

p4 
W 

H 

CO 

O 
fai 

o 

< 



O 

w 

o 

w 



fa • 
-e-fc 

c 15' 
'&§ 



wffl 



fa 4 © 



<1 



_2 



firft it will be feen that it was fuppofed there was a 
lineal defcendant of Shakefpere in the female line ; 
by the fecond it is apparent that there was no fuch 
defcent. 

If the reader happens to be familiar with the original 
edition of Malone, he will be ftruck by the difcrepancy 
between my ftatement, at p. 19, and the ftatement 
made by Malone. It will be found on reference to 
Bofwell's edition of Malone, 1821, that the error in 
the original edition had been difcovered, and was 
corrected by Bofwell. Malone had been milled by the 
incorrecl: pedigree (No. 1), which had been fupplied 
to Mr. Stevens by Mr. Whalley, upon which Malone 
had relied. It reprefented the exigence of direct de- 
fendants from Elizabeth Nafh, Shakefpere's grand- 
daughter, and that Sir Reginald Forfter, of Eaft 
Greenwich, married the daughter of Elizabeth and 
Thomas Nafh, thereby coming into poffelTion of New 
Place. The error arofe from miftaking the daughter 
of Edward Nafh, Efq. (A), of Eaft Greenwich — coufin- 
german of Thomas Nafh, of Stratford — and fuppofing 
her to have been the child of Thomas Nafh, who never 
had any children by his wife, Elizabeth Hall. To 
avoid any farther errors upon this fubje6t, the reader is 
cautioned againft the ftatement made in Malone's 
original edition, which was fet right by Bofwell in the 
1 82 1 edition. 



D— page 51. 

Jordan. 

Gentlemen s Magazine, October, 1800, p. 1000. — 
f When Ireland was engaged upon his ' Picmrefque 
f View of the Avon, he navigated down this poetic 
f ftream attended by a very modeft and well-informed 
8 man, Mr. John Jordan,' &c. It was Mr. Jordan who 

" gave 



NASH AND FORSTER PEDIGREE. 



No. i— ERRONEOUS. 
William Shakespere = Ann Hathaway. 



Dr. John Hall = Susanna Shakespere. Hamnet. Judith. 

Elizabeth Hall = ist. Thos. Nash, Esq. = and. Sir John Barnard. 



Mary Nash = Sir Reginald Forster, 
j of JVartoickjhire. 

Jane Forster = Franklyn Miller, Esq., 

1 of Hide Hall, co. Hertford. 

Nicholas Miller, Esq. = Mary , d. of 

Nicholas Franklyn Miller, Esq. 



No. 2.— CORRECT. 

Nash 
William Shakespere = Ann Hathaway. I 

I I "" I 

Anthony Nash, Esq., = George Nash 



Dr. John Hall = Susanna Shakespere. of Welcombe. 

I Buried Nov. 18, 1662. 



nd. Sir John Barnard = Elizabeth Hall = ist. Thos. Nash, Esq. 



I (A) 

Edward Nash, Esq., = Sir Reginald Forster, Bun., 

of East Greenwich, I of Greenwich, 

co. of Kent. ! Created May 4, 1661. 



Thos. Nash, Esq. Jane. * Mary = Sir Reginald Forster, Bart. 

I Buried in Stratford Church. 



Reginald Forster. Mary. Jane Forster = Franklyn Miller, 

Buried at Stratford, Obiit. Feb. 12, I of Hide Hall, 

Aug. 10, 1685. I73 1 - -<92t. 62. co. Hereford, Esq. 

I I 

Jane Miller = Will. NorclifFe, Esq. Nicholas Miller = 
By her the monument I 

in Stratford Church was erected 

to the memory of her mother and I 

grandfather. I 

Nicholas Franklyn Miller, Esq., &c, &c, &c. 



"gave Mr. Ireland his firfl information on which 
" he created his vifionary falfehood (the Shakefpere 
"forgeries)." 

Ditto, 1809, September, p. 885. — "It is conjectured 
" that many of his (Jordan's) tales refpecling Shake- 
"fpere were from his own inventive genius." 



E-page SI- 
The Clop ton Arms. 

The porch of the Chapel of the Holy Crofs has been 
allowed to fall into fuch a flate of decay, that only one 
of the four fhields which once adorned it can now be 
read. It is the one bearing the arms of London. 

The fhields, as they originally appeared, are given 
by Dugdale, and could eafily be reflored. A beautiful 
coat of the Cloptons will be found infide the chapel, 
adorning the porch at the entrance. It is unfortunately 
buried under the clumfy and offenfive gallery which 
has been erected over the line of the fcreen which 
originally divided the chapel from a fmall ante-chapel. 
Holy Crofs is one of the mofl painful fpecimens of 
plaflerers', painters', and carpenters' church refloration. 
Its pews and fittings are mofl fubftantial, mofl fervice- 
able, and mofl deteflable. 

It is well known to every one acquainted with the 
building, that its walls are adorned with a feries of 
frefcoes of the moft interefling defcription. Thefe 
have been carefully hidden under coats of yellow wafh. 
Everything that the Corporation of Stratford could do 
to difguife this venerable pile, has been done. The 
ancient oak fcreen has been hidden behind the gallery : 
the exquifite flonework of the porchway has been 
mutilated ; and all that the mofl barbaric Proteflant 
tafte could accomplifh to convert the building into the 
appearance of a comfortable conventicle, has been 

thoroughly 



Appendix. 351 

thoroughly carried out. There are only three features, 
internally, of this building, that carry us back in 
imagination to Sir Hugh Clopton's time. lit. His 
ihield and quartering^, which have happily elcaped 
deftruclion on one ride of the doorway. 2nd. The 
tracery of the windows. 3rd. A beautiful piece of 
mediaeval iron-work — the handle of the priefts' door, 
palling from the chancel to the garden formerly occu- 
pied by the priells' houfes, attached to the prefent 
grammar fchool. 

The fooner the Corporation of Stratford fet about 
a restoration of this chapel — clean the walls and 
reproduce the frefcoes ; remove the frightful and ufe- 
lels gallery blocking up the lovely tower arch ; reftore 
the fcreen to its proper place, and fit up the building 
with open benches and ftalls — the more it will be to 
their credit. 

Inftead of introducing the following fafts in the 
Clopton Pedigree, I have referved them to be inferted 
here. It will have been feen that on the death of 
Mrs. Partheriche, the Clopton Houfe Eftate paffed 
under her will to Charles Boothby Scrimlner, Efq. (I), 
who took the name of Clopton. The Pedigree lhows 
that he was the fon of Anne Clopton, who married 
Thomas Boothby, Efq., and the heir-at-law of Mrs. 
Partheriche at her deceafe. According to the provi- 
sions of that lady's will, in default of iffue the eftate 
was to pais to Edward Ingram, Esq. (K, Pedigree), the 
fon of Barbara Clopton and Aihton Ingram ; and, in 
cafe of default, to his brother John or his heirs, all of 
whom were tenants for life. In cafe of no iifue in any 
of thefe families, the eftate was to pais to one Anthony 
Clopton, of Ireland, who had perfuaded Mrs. Parthe- 
riche that he was defcended from the Clopton family. 
C. B. Scrimiher Clopton died 1815, without iffue j 
Edward Ingram died 1818, without iffue 5 John Ingram 
died, aged 90, November 20, 1824, without iffue. 
The faid Anthony Clopton died in like manner 
without iffue. The eftate then came to a Mrs. Noel 

(L), 



3 S 2 Appendix. 

(L), a lifter of the above C. B. Scrimfher Clopton. 
She, being next heir to the eftate, during its pofTeilion 
by the above-named John Ingram Clopton (for, by 
the will, every pofTefTor was bound to affume the name 
of Clopton) fold the reversion to Charles Meynell, Efq., 
for a^i 0,000 in money, and an annuity of 5^300 per 
annum ; the ^10,000 being to pay the debts of her 
brother Charles Boothby, who, having been greatly 
embarraffed, committed fuicide. 

Charles Meynell, Efq., the purchafer of the reverfion, 
died in 18 15, leaving two fons and a widow, Elizabeth, 
who married Samuel Stoddart, Efq. ; and they con- 
jointly, by a decree of the Court of Chancery, fold 
Clopton Houfe and eftate for £$0 an acre, the purchafe- 
money(279 acres) amounting to ^13,9755 the buildings 
on the eftate being further valued at ^781. The 
timber fold for ,§£548 ; and the Clopton pews, in Strat- 
ford church, with two fmaller ones, for a£joo; the 
Clopton meadow, for s£i,$oo ■ and the furniture and 

FAMILY PICTURES IN THE HOUSE, for £$$ ! ! ! The 

whole were purchafed for ^16,9^9 i$s. 6d., by George 
Loyd, Efq., of Welcombe, Stratford, in Odober, 1830. 
Mr. Loyd died in July, 183 1, leaving the Clopton and 
Welcombe eftate to his brother, John Gamaliel Loyd, 
Efq., for his life, and afterwards to his nephew, Charles 
Warde, Efq., the prefent pofTefTor. There were fome 
legal difficulties, owing to the non-completion of the 
purchafe prior to Mr. Loyd's death, which were let 
rght by an order in Chancery, but they are of no 
intereft to the public. The above fads furniih thofe who 
may be interefted in the fubjecf with a corre6t account 
of the hands through which the Clopton eftate has 
paffed fince the extinction of the direct defcent, as traced 
upon the Pedigree, down to the prefent moment. 



F— page 87. 



F— page 87. 
Underhill. 

The hiftory of the fettlement of the Underhill 
family at Eatington, near Stratford, is curious and 
amufing. The facts now related are gathered from the 
elaborate notice of Eatington and of the Shirley family 
contained in the MSS. of the late Rev. Mr. Warde. 

The Pedigree I have given fhows that the Underhills 
came originally from Wolverhampton. They fettled at 
Eatington in the firft year of the reign of Henry VIII., 
owing to John Underhill marrying for his fecond wife 
one Agnes Porter, of Eatington. This John obtained 
a leafe for 80 years of the manor of Eatington, from 
Sir Ralph Shirley, Knight. This was an amorous 
knight, who married in fucceflion four wives, — the laft 
in the year 15 14. This lady, a daughter of Sir Robert 
Sheffield, bore him a fori, Francis, who was left father- 
lefs in the firft year of his life — January, 15 17. Being 
very much his own mafter, before he was of age this 
foolifh youth married a widow, the relict of Sir John 
Congreve, of Stretton, county Stafford, and likewife 
the daughter of his guardian, Sir John Giffard. The 
widow Congreve brought with her to her young 
hufband's home two daughters by her late fpouie, 
Elizabeth and Uriula Congreve. 

By turning to the Underhill Pedigree, it will be feen 
that the two fons of Edward Underhill, of Eatington, 
eventually married thefe two young ladies, and the 
reader will not be furprifed to hear what followed. 

By a leafe, dated April 28, 1541, the above-named 
Francis Shirley was induced to grant the whole of his 
ancient Warwickinire property, except the right of 
prefentation to the church of Nether Eatington, to 
Edward Underhill and his eldeft fon, Thomas, for a 
term of 100 years. This leafe was the caufe of much 
unpleafantnefs and of a long feries of lawfuits, which 

were 



were not finally determined until the year 1652. The 
Underbills were accufed of having obtained this valu- 
able leafe of the Shirleys' lands by the procurement of 
the mother of the young ladies, Dorothy Congreve, 
who had married Francis Shirley. The following 
extracts, made from depositions taken at Shipfton-upon- 
Stour, illuftrate the times, and the characters of Francis 
Shirley and his wife : — 

" Ralph Brokefby, of Sholbye, in the county of 
" Leicefrer, Efq., being examined, depofed — 

" That Francis Shirley did not meddle in the 
" management of his eftate, only in his horfes, hounds, 
" and deer in his park at Staunton, wherein he took 
" great delight ; but referred the refidue to be ordered, 
" and for the moil part to be difpofed of, by the faid 
" Dorothy his wife, and her friends, who ruled the 
" fame, and efpecially his hofpitality and houfekeeping, 
" with great frugality and worfhip, to her lingular com- 
" mendation, as well for prefervation of his woods, 
" keeping his houfe in good repair, and all other 
" things whatfoever. From fuch converfation and deal- 
" ings as he had with and for the faid Francis Shirley, 
" and his fon, John Shirley, he judged that Eatington 
"be now (1613) worth 56200 per annum more than 
" the 40 marks paid for it (by the Underhills). More- 
" over, he depofeth, that Thomas Underhill, and Eliza- 
" beth his wife, did make an attempt to have had 
" from Francis Shirley the Fee farm of the manor of 
" Eatington for ^200 in money, wherein they had 
" prevailed if they had not been providently prevented 
"■by John Shirley, and further he gave his advice to 
" John Shirley fo to do." 

Defpite the litigation, the fenior branch of the 
Underhills retained poifefTion of Eatington until the 
expiration of the leafe, in 1641, when the heir removed 
to Upthrop, in the parifh of Alderminfter, county of 
Worcefter. 

During the reign of Elizabeth, the profperity of the 
Underhills was at its height ; and it was in Shakefpere's 

time 



time that they acquired lands in and about Stratford,, 
and in numerous parifhes about Eatington. 

Our intereft, in this work, is directed to the junior 
branch of the family, and therefore the fenior line has 
not been given in the Pedigree. The founder of this 
junior line was William (A), (the younger fon of the 
above-named Edward), who married one of the lifters 
Congreve — Urfula. 

He was the father of William Underhill (B), who 
purchafed New Place from Bott, and fold it fubfe- 
quently to Shakefpere. Concerning thefe perfons, I 
have gathered fome interefting information, which will 
mow their connection with the county, and particu- 
larly with Stratford-upon-Avon. 

(S.P.O. Domeftic Correfp. Elizabeth, vol. cxxxvii. 
art. 68, 69). 

Art. 68. — "A Booke of the Names of the Gentlemen and 
Freeholders in the Countie of Warwick. 1580." 

" Hundred de Kington : 

*• •* * * 

Tho. Undrill, gent. 

* * * * 

" Hundred de Barlichway : 

■x- * * * 

Wm. Clopton, Efqr. 
-x- -x- * -x- 

Wm. Underhill, gent. 

* * -x- * 

John Coomes, gent. 

* * * * 

John Shakefpeare. 

* * * * 

Thomas Shakfpeare. 

* * * * 

John Shakfper. 

* * * * 

Art. 69.— 



356 Appendix. 

Art. 69. — Another Book, intituled, "A Booke of the 
Names and Dwelling-places of the Gentlemen and Free- 
holders in the Countie of Warwick. 1580." 

(Under Idlicote, no Underhills are placed -, the names 
of Richd. Hall and Wm. Merfhall occurring only.) 

" Allington Inferior : 

* * * # 

Tho. Underhill, gent. 

* * * # 

" Stretford-upon-Avon : 

Wm. Claptun, Efquier. 
■* * ■* ■* 

John Shaxper. 

* # # * 

Wm. Underhill, gent. 

* •* * * 

" Rowington : 

* * * * 

Tho. Shaxpere. 



The following documents, an abftracl: of the will of 
William Underhill (A), and the will in full of his 
fon (B) — Shakefpere's Underhill — feem to me to com- 
plete all the information regarding this family which it 
is necelfary to publifh. 



G— page 88. 



G— page 88. 

Alflradi of Will of William Underhill. 

{Vide Pedigree, A). 

William Underhill makes his will on the ift day 
of December, anno. 12 Eliz. (1569), and defcribes 
himfelf therein as of " Newbold Revell, in Com: Warr, 
" Gent."* In the firft place he expreffes his defire to 
be buried by his dearly beloved wife, in the pariih of 
Nether Eatington. He then proceeds to exprefs his 
intentions as to the difpofition of his property, as fol- 
lows : — To his heir, &c, the third part of all his 
manors, lands, and tenements ; the reft (the manor of 
Idlicote being held in capite) to his executors, with all 
" leafes, goodes, cattell, plate, and houfehotd ftutfe," to 
fulfil the intents and meaning of his will, and to bring 
up his children. 

He prohibits mofl emphatically to his heirs the 
alienation of his lands, except for their lives, their 
wives' lives, or leafes for xxj years. Prohibits his fon, 
W. Underhill, from marrying before the age of twenty- 
four, without the confent of his brother Shirley, brother 
Brokefby, brother Thomas Underhill, and brother 
Congreve, or their heirs, &c, &c. 

In the event of his fon dying, or going about to 
alienate or fell his lands, he provides that they fhall 

pafs 



* I find that the manor of Idlicote was alienated by Louis 
Greville to William Underhill (A), in the 10th of Eliz., and 
that in the following year the same Louis Greville alienated 
to the same William Underhill the manor of Loxley. It will 
be observed that on the Pedigree I have described this William 
(A), as of Idlicote and Loxley, while in his will he describes 
himself as of " Newbold Revell." The above facts will ex- 
plain the reason. He was commonly known, when he made 
his will (1569), as Underhill of Newbold Revell, the Idlicote 
and Loxley property having been acquired only during the two 
years previous. 



pafs to teftator's brother, John. The properties in 
the will enumerated are the manor of Idlicote, lands 
and tenements in Idlicote, Coxley, and Hollington, 
lands in Kington-BafTet, Barton, Meryden, Alfpathe, 
and Efenell, in the county of Warwick aforefaid. The 
teftator mentions a brother Humphrey. Alfo a brother 
Thomas, and the faid Thomas's fon, Francis (his god- 
fon), as follows : — 

" And alfo I do give to my brother Thomas, untell his 
" fon Frauncis Underhill my godfon be of the age of 
" xxiirj yeres and then only to the faid Frauncis and to 
" the heires males of the very body of the faid Frauncis 
" lawfully begotten as is aforefaid and with like condi- 
" cion and untill fuch time as is aforefaid all my landes 
" and tenementes with their appurtenances in Hafelor 
" Stretforde-upon-Aven and Drayton in the county of 
" Warwick and in the parifh of Wolverhampton in 
" the county of Stafford " &c. 

Two more fons of his brother Thomas are alfo men- 
tioned, viz., George and Humphrey. Alfo Humphrey, 
fon of his brother John. Teftator mentions by name 
his three daughters, Dorothy, Margaret, and Anne, to 
each of whom there is a bequeft of ^500. 

To his fon William, he leaves his lignet of gold. 
To each of his daughters "one filver fpone;" to Dorothie 
her mother's wedding-ring and one bracelet of gold ; 
to his fecond daughter, " my late moft loving wife 
" Newport's"* wedding-ringe ;" to my youngeft daugh- 
ter, " a little chain of gold, and one other of my firfl 
" wife's ringes." 

Legacies are bequeathed to his brother John's chil- 
dren, 



* This was his second wife, who had pre-deceased him little 
more than a year, her will (which was made by license of 
her husband) having been proved on the 28th of January, 
1569. She was the widow of Richard Newport, of Heming- 
ham, by whom she had a son, John, and four daughters, Con- 
stance, Elizabeth, Ursula, and Mary. 



Appendix. 359 

dren, to his lifter Dalby's children, to his filter Wyke- 
ham's children, and to his lifter Mynofa. 

Allulion is made to an Elizabeth Underhill, his god- 
daughter, his lifter Wynilred's daughters, and his lifter 
Tamer's daughters. He provides, in the event of any 
difficulty ariiing about the interpretation of his will, 
that it fhall be referred to the judgment and arbitration 
of his friend, Sir James Dier, Lord Chief Juftice of 
the Common Pleas. 

He Itrenuoully urges more than once (reiterating 
the fame delire at the conclulion) the non-aliena- 
tion of his lands, and particularly requefts that his 
daughters do not throw themfelves away in mar- 
riage ; and lhould they marry contrary to his deter- 
mination and appointment, or " offend and myfufe 
" themfelfes in carnal] or adulterous lyvyng and the 
" fame be duely proved " that then the portions and 
bequefts allotted them fhall be null and void. 

This will was proved at London on the ioth day of 
April, a.d. 1570, the teftator having departed this life, 
according to the inqiiijition poji mortem, on the laft day 
of March preceding. 



H — page 90. 

The Will of William Underhill. (Fide Pedigree, B.) 

" $rt % fame of gob $mm WILLIAM UNDER- 
" HILL of Idlicott in the conntie of Warwicke 
" Efquier beinge of perfect minde and memorie did as 
'■' well in the fixth daie of Julie anno clomini 1597 as 
" at divers other tymes or at leaft once in the tyme of 
" his licknes whereof he died make and declare his 
" laft will and teftament nuncupative in manner and 
" forme followeing or the like in effect viz. Firfl he 
" revoked all former wills and teftamentes by him 

" made 



" made or declared and willed that his daughter Do- 
" rothie fhold have for her parte five hundred poundes 
" and all her Jewells and that his younger daughter 
" named Valentine mold alfo have other five hundred 
" poundes Likewife he willed that his eldeft fonne 
" Foulke Underhill fhold have all his landes and that 
" in regarde thereof if he lived he mould be charge- 
" able to perform all fuch promifes and grauntes as 
" fhall at anie tyme hereafter appeare to be made by 
" him the faide William Underhill in his life time for 
" which he had received monie And further he 
" willed that if the faide Foulke Underhill fhould 
" happen to die, then his next heire that fhall inherite 
" fhold be chargeable to performe the fame his pro- 
" mifes and grauntes. Alfo he willed that everie of his 
" otherfonnes ftiould have twohundred poundes a peece. 
" Likewife he the fame William Underhill declared 
" that he had oweinge unto him two thoufande poundes 
" for the which he had fpecialties. And that one 
" Mafier BafTet owed unto him threefcore and tenne 
" poundes for which he had nothing to Ihewe. Laftlie 
" he conftituted and appointed Mafier George Sherley 
" Efquier and Mafier Thomas Sherley his brother 
" executors of the fame his laft will and teftament and 
" humblie defired that it wold pleafe them to take 
" uppon them the execution thereof. And this his faide 
" laft will and teftament he foe made and by worde 
" declared in the prefence of divers credible witnefles. 

" Proved at London, on the 9th day of Auguft 
" AD 1597, by the oath of Alexander Serle 
et notary public, the pro&or of George Sherley 
" Efq. and Thomas Sherley, the executors 
" above named." 

It will be obferved that in the above will of W. Un- 
derhill (B), he leaves two members of the Shirley 
family his executors ; from which we may gather that 
the difpute between the Shirleys and fenior branch of 

the 



the Underbills of Eatington did not affect the junior 
branch at Idlicote. 

For thofe who are fond of church-hunting, and 
reading heraldic achievements, Eatington offers peculiar 
attractions. It is the burial-place of the diftinguifbed 
families of Shirley and Ferrers, and is rich in monu- 
mental remains. There are memorials likewife to 
ieveral of the Underhills. Edward Underhill, whofe 
ions married the twin Congreves, is thus remembered — 

11 Here lyeth buried under this ftone Edward 
ee Underhill, lbmetime gentleman of this Town, 
" with Margaret, fometime his Wife : which Edward 
" diffeafed this world the fifth day of November, 
« A.D. M.D.XLVI. 

" On whofe folly s Jhefu have mercy. Amen." 

Thomas, the eldeft fon of the above, and Elizabeth 
Congreve, his wife, are alio held in memory, with a very 
lengthy inicription, of which the following is but a 
fmall part. Their monumental virtues are immenfe : 

" Here lyeth buried the bodyes of Thomas Under- 
" hill, of this Towne, Efquier, and Elizabeth his wife, 
" who lived married together in perfect amitie about 
" 65 years, and had iflue between them xx children : 

" viz. xiii fons, and vn daughters She dyed 

" 24 Junii, An. D. 1603 j and he the 6th day of Octo- 
" ber next after 

" God they feared : God theyferved: God they loved: 
" and to God they dyed." 

As far as this book is concerned, the mofl interefting 
of all the monuments is that of the William Under- 
hill (A) from whofe fon Shakefpere purchafed New 
Place. The infcription runs as follows ■ — 

" Here lyeth William Underhill of the Inner 
M Temple of London, gentleman: of Edward Underhill, 
( * Efquier, fecond fon -, and Urfula his dearly beloved 

" wife 



" wife, youngefl daughter of John Congreve of Stret- 
" ton, in Com. Staff. Efquier, whofe life was a fpectacle 
" unto all honeft, virtuous, and obedient wifes: me dyed 
" the xmi th day of May, An : Dora : M.D. L.X.I. 

" Upon whofe fouls Chrifi have mercy. Amen.''' 

(No date is given of the death of this William 
Underhill (A) ; but the period is fixed by the proving 
of his will in April, 1570, as above.) 



I— page 131. 
De Quincey. 

De Quincey's article on Shakefpere in the old edition 
of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," is probably known 
to a comparatively fmall number of perfons. Probably 
had he been alive at this time, and having fuch an 
article to write, he would not have produced the one 
in queftion ; probably, alfo, in his complete works, now 
iffuing from the prefs, and fo beautifully got up, we 
{hall never find the article in queftion. But the well- 
worn phrafe is painfully applicable, " literce fcriptce 
manent." Whatever fuch a man as De Quincey might 
write, is fure to leave its mark ; and therefore, when a 
giant hits a giant's blow, we muft look for the necef- 
iary contufion. De Quincey ufed his flrength to bruife 
the reputation of Shakefpere ; and it is a very forry 
apology, when you have disfigured a man, to beg his 
pardon, and fay you did not intend to hit fo hard. 

The refult of De Quincey's article has been precifely 
what anyone might expect. Men who have never read 
that article, perhaps never heard of it, have received 
through other channels of information the impreffion 
made by De Quincey. In this way, minds receive pre- 
judices which no regret on the part of the writer of an 

article 



Appendix. 363 



article can prevent. I can quite believe that if De 
Quincey could, years ago, have torn out from the pages 
of the Encyclopaedia his article on Shakefpere, he 
would have done fo. But that can never be done ; and 
though it be fuppreffed in his works, or otherwife 
huddled away, it cannot be obliterated from the pages 
of the work in which it remains, unavailable. For this 
reafon I have dwelt upon it, and referred to it, hoping 
that the attention of thofe who read thefe pages may 
thereby be drawn to the fubject, and that a proper 
antidote may be adminiftered to the baneful influence 
which fuch an article as De Quincey's has had, and 
would ftill have if treated with filence. It is far more 
healthy and more juft to drag it into the open day, 
point to its injurious paragraphs, and fay openly — Thefe 
words ought never to have been written ; they are 
unjuftifiable ; they are the mere conjectures of a man 
who muft have regretted writing them, and who never 
would have written them had he acquainted himfelf 
thoroughly with the cuftoms of the times in which 
Shakefpere lived. 

I give one extract, from De Quincey to fhow how he 
wrote, and to explain the tone aluimed by me in the 
body of this work. 

He is commenting on the marriage bond (pp. 29, 

" What are we to think of this document ? Trepi- 

" dation and anxiety are written upon its face 

" As the daughter of a fubftantial yeoman, who would 
" expect fome fortune in his daughter's fuitor, {he (Anne 
"Hathaway) had, to fpeak coarfely, a little outlived 
** her market. Time, fhe had none to lofe. William 
" Shakefpere pleafed her eye, and the gentlenefs of 
" his nature made him an apt fubject for female bland- 
" ifhments — polhbly for female arts. Without imputing 
" to this Anne Hathaway anything fo hateful as a 
" fettled plot for enfnaring him, it was eafy enough 
" for a mature woman, armed with fuch inevitable 
" advantages of experience and of felf-poffeffion, to 

" draw 



" draw onward a blufhing novice, and, without dire6tly 
" creating opportunities, to place him in the way of 
" turning to account fuch as naturally offered. 

" Young boys are generally nattered by the conde- 

" fcending notice of grown-up women," &c 

" Once, indeed, entangled in fuch a purfuit, any perfon 
" of manly feelings would be fenfible that he had no 
" retreat ; that would be to infult a woman grievoufly — 
" to wound her fexual pride — and to infure her lafting 
"fcorn and hatred. Thefe were confequences which 
" the gentle-minded Shakefpere could not face. He 
" purfued his good fortunes, half perhaps in heedleff- 
" nefs, half in defperation, until he was roufed by the 
" clamorous difpleafure of her family upon nrft difco- 
" vering the fituation of their kinfwoman. For fuch 
" a fituation there could be but one atonement, and 
" that was hurried forward by both parties, whilft, out 
" of delicacy towards the bride, the wedding was not 
" celebrated in Stratford, where the regifter contains 

" no notice of fuch an event." (and much 

more to the fame effect). 

The reader will now underftand the emphafis ufed 

in various portions of this book; and will, perhaps, 

wonder with me that Shakefpere's was not too 

' honoured a name to be dealt with fo flippantly by a 

famed author in a great national work. 

Let it be faid of the above, that it is — every fyllable 
— an unfupported and degrading conjecture ; that the 
motives and the a6ts are the bafe inventions of De 
Quincey's own imagination ; and that the man who 
ufes his pen to hurt the fair fame of the dead in fuch 
a fafliion, were he twenty times the author and writer 
that De Quincey was, deferves the fevereft condem- 
nation. 



J— page i48 > 



J — page 148. 

CLOPTON PEDIGREE. 

Combe, or Combes. 

To work out the Combe Pedigree, and to bring it 
down corre&ly to the union between the heireis 
Martha Combe and Edward Clopton, has coft me an 
amount of labour, which none but thofe acquainted 
with the difficulties of iuch work will give me credit 
for. 

By the courtefy and kindnefs of Herald's College, I 
was enabled to take a copy of the pedigree contained 
in "Vincent's Warwickshire " (1619). This book 
was prefented by Sheldon to the College in 1684, 
and is always regarded as a moft truitworthy guide. 
Having poirelfed myfelf of this, I next conlulted all 
the Viiitations and MSS. at the Britifh Mnfeum which 
would give any light on the fubje6t, and next I ran- 
facked the regifters of Stratford Church. I have at 
laft compiled that Pedigree which will be found on 
one part of the " Clopton " meet. 

In the main features of this Pedigree I have thought 
it my duty to accept the authority of Vincent, but I con- 
fefs I do ib with great hefitation, being unable (except 
upon a conjecture which I have embodied in the Pedi- 
gree) to reconcile the conflicting evidence of Vincent's 
MS. and the unbending entries which I find in the 
Stratford Regifter. 

To thofe who are curious in fuch matters this fub- 
je6t cannot fail to be interefting, and therefore I will 
go into it fully. 

After having gone over the Stratford Regifter with 
great care, and affifted by Mr. Butcher, the Parifh 
Clerk, who has reviled all my quotations, I find the fol- 
lowing to be the whole of the entries with regard to 
the Combes family about the dates with which we are 
interefted. 

Marriages. 



Marriages. 

i $61. Auguft 27. — Johannes Combes, generofus, et 
Rofa Cloptonne. 



Burials. 

1,573* Ap r ^ 4- — Jone, filia Johannis Combes. 

1575. April 8. — Francis, fonne to Mr. John Combs. 

1^76. June 11. — Francis, fonne to Mr. John Combes. 

1577. January 29. — John, fonne to Mr. John 
Coombes. 

1579. Oft. 14.— Miftrefs Rofe, wife to Mr. John 
Combes. 

1^84. Feb. 2. — Will, fonne to Mr. John Combes. 

1584. May 24. — Mifirefs Elizabeth, wife to Mr. 
John Combes. 

1614. July 12. — Mr. John Comles, gentleman. 

We naturally afk, who was this Mr. John Combes ? 
On turning to the infcription upon the altar tomb of 
John a Combe, in the chancel of Stratford Church, we 
find it terminating in this fafhion. After enumerating 
the bequefts of the deceafed, it concludes, — " Ye wich 
" increafe he apoynted to be diftributed towards the 
" reliefe of ye almes-people theire. More he gave to 
" the poore of Stratford Twenty LI." 

What does that 51 mean? Can it be intended to 
denote the age of John a Combe at the time of his 
death ? Probably not ; but if not, what pofhble mean- 
ing can it have ? 

The reader will foon fee the interefl: of this inquiry. 
There is no evidence, that I am aware of, to tell us at 

what 



what age John a Combe died ; and there are, unfor- 
tunately, fo many Combes in the Pedigree named 
"John," that we are in great danger of confuting one 
with another. John a Combe, Shakefpere's friend, is 
commonly reputed to have been an old man at the 
time of his death ; but he is alfo reported to have been 
an old bachelor. In a MS. given by Mr. Hunter in 
his New Illuftrations, we read of " an old gentleman, 
" a batchelor, Mr. Combe, upon whole name the 
"poet," &c, &c. 

AiTuming that John a Combe was an old bachelor, 
who was the John with all the children ? 

The Pedigree ihows us that there was another John 
Combe, living at Warwick, but he had married one 
Johanna Murcote, and therefore he could not be the 
huiband of Rofe Clopton, married in 1,561, and dead 
in 1579, nor yet of " Miftrefs Elizabeth," who died 
in 1584. 

We are driven, therefore, to the neceffity of trying 
to fhow that one of the above-named ladies was the wife 
of John a Combe s father. This is what Vincent fets 
forth in his Pedigree, and it is fupported by a note of 
Malone's. He fays, "Mr. Combe married Mrs. Rofe 
" Clopton, the youngeft daughter of William Clopton 
"of Clopton, Efq. [it was old John who married Rofe 
" Clopton'], Auguft 27, 1 561 ; and therefore was, pro- 
bably, when he died, eighty years old.'' 

As Vincent was a Warwickihire man, and had full 
opportunity of acquainting himfelf perfonally with the 
hiftories of the families he catalogued in his Visitation, 
we feem bound to conclude that John a Combe's father 
(John of Stratford) was the hufband of Rofe Clopton. 
The regifler above quoted mows that lhe lived in wed- 
lock from 1561 to 1579. 

During that period, four children of Mr. John 
Combe's were interred in Stratford Church, viz., Jone, 
Francis, Francis, John. They evidently were Rofe 
Clopton's offspring, and died in infancy ; but of them 
there is no mention made in Vincent's Pedigree. I have 

introduced 



introduced thefe names with dotted lines, according to 
heraldic cuftom, to fignify that the defcent is doubtful, 
though there cannot be any doubt upon the point, 
becauie the evidence of the Stratford regifter is over- 
powering: and therefore in the above omiffions, Vin- 
cent's Pedigree at Herald's College muft be fo far 
incorre<5t. 

But Vincent inftru&s us that " old John" took Rofe 
Clopton for his fecond wife, and that his celebrated fon, 
John a Combe, was the third offspring of the firft 
marriage with Jocofa, the daughter of Edward Blount, 
of Kidderminfter. It will be feen, on reference, that 
there were four children by that marriage. Affuming 
that Jocofa Blount died the year prior to her hufband's 
fecond marriage, and that her children were born one 
year after the other, {he could not have been married 
later than 1555 (moft probably the date would be 
two or three years earlier) ; and affuming that " old 
"John" was twenty years of age when he married, it 
would give his date of birth about 1^35. It is moil 
likely that he was born fomewhat earlier, but as mar- 
riages were contracted in very young years in thofe 
days, we could hardly conjecture his birth as prior to 
1^32. At the death of his fecond wife, therefore, he 
would be about 47 years of age, and not at all too old 
to marry for the third time. That he did fo feems 
almoft certain, becaufe we are encountered with the 
entry, in 1,584, " Miftrefs Elizabeth, wife to Mr. John 
" Combes." It is quite poffible that this lady might 
have been the wife of John a Combe, for at that date 
he was probably five and twenty years of age. But as 
John a Combe is univerfally reported to have been an 
old bachelor, this cannot be correct. We have no 
alternative, therefore, but to conclude that " old John" 
did marry for the third time, after the death of Rofe 
Clopton, and that " Miftrefs Elizabeth" was the mother 
of the child " Will," who was buried February 2, 1584. 
It was only three months afterwards that the mother 
followed the child to the grave, and therefore it appears 

probable 



probable that the child's birth and death coil the 
mother her life alfo. With the entry of " Miftrefs 
"Elizabeth's" funeral, all knowledge of "old John," 
as far as I am acquainted, ends. I am at a lofs to 
underftand why Malone guefTes " old John" as probably 
" eighty years old when he died," limply becaufe he 
married his iecond wife, Rofe, in 1561, at which date 
he was poffibly about thirty years of age — probably 
fomewhat younger. Difproportionate alliances as to 
years were not falmonable in thofe days ; and we can 
with certainty conclude that "old John" muft have 
been a youthful bridegroom when he married Rofe, 
becaufe, in 1561, fhe muft have been quite a girl, lince 
her eldeft brother, William Clopton (C), was only born 
in 1537, and was therefore but twenty-four years of age 
when his lifter, the third younger than himfelf, was 
married. Rofe could not have been more than eighteen 
or nineteen when fhe married John Combe ; and it is 
not likely that a girl of eighteen, in thofe days, would 
marry a man many years older than herfelf. 

It is quite poffible that "old John" may have lived 
until he was eighty years of age. If lb, he only died 
four or five years before his fon, John a Combe. The 
regifter of Stratford is totally lilent on the fubjecl, and 
I can find no trace there of his death or burial. He 
may poftibly have been interred at Aftley, from whence 
his family came. 

It will be feen that on the Pedigree I have, with the 
dotted lines of doubt, lupphed "old John's" third 
marriage, and the burial both of his wife and his child, 
concerning whom Vincent is altogether lilent. I con- 
clude his Pedigree muft be defective, becaufe the Strat- 
ford regifters will admit of no queftions or doubts 5 
their entries are abfolute and conclulive evidence. 

I confefs I have had, and ftill have, fome doubts as 
to the correclnefs of Vincent in reprefenting John a 
Combe as the third child of Jocofa Blount — " Old 
" John's " firfl wife ; though I dare not venture to 
call in queftion his pedigree, becaufe it clears up one 

great 



great difficulty which has never before been explained, 
and in this refpect is evidently correct. Thofe who 
have ftudied John a Combes' Will cannot fail to have 
been ftruck with the manner in which he confidently 
fpeaks of his "brother John and his children," though 
he alfo fpeaks of his " Coujin Thomas Comle" and 
fubfequently calls him "my faid nephew, Thomas 
" Combe." 

" Item. I will and bequeath and devife to my Cousin 
" Thomas Combe, &c," . . . . " that he the faid 
" Thomas Combe, his heirs and affigns, fhall yearly and 
" every year for every year for ever pay to a learned 
" preacher twenty millings to make a fermon twice a 
" year at Stretford Church, &c, &c," . . . . " and if 
" my faid Nephew Thomas Combe .... (hall or 
" do not pay the faid twenty fhillings yearly to a 
" preacher," &c. 

There can be no queftion as to the perfon here de- 
fcribed, nor to the miftake in the drafting of the Will, 
calling him in the one inflance Coufin, and in the other 
Nephew. 

Having difcovered one fuch miftake, I was led to fuf- 
peft that the term "brother" might be alfo open to fome 
fuch explanation, becaufe, though it was constantly the 
cuftom, after the death of one child, to chriften another 
by the fame Chriftian name (as we fee in the cafe of the 
infants "Francis," the fons of " Old John"), neverthe- 
lefs, we fhould hardly expect to find two brothers living 
and both bearing the fame title. Vincent's pedigree 
explains the matter at once. We there fee that thefe 
Johns, though both fons of " Old John," were, never- 
thelefs, only half-brothers — the one being the child of 
Jocofa Blount, the other of Rofe Clopton. Hence at 
their chriftenings each received the name " John ; " 
and when John a Combe was making his Will, it was 
very natural for him to fpeak of " my brother John." 

Having thus fairly acknowledged Vincent's flrength 
and authority, I will frankly allow that I have only 
weaknefs to oppofe to him in fupport of my doubts 

and 



and hefitations. I have undoubtedly proved one of 
two things. Either Vincent's Pedigree is incorrecl in 
net having fupplied us with the names of Role Clop- 
ton's children in full, and with " Old John's " third 
marriage, and the name both of his wife and child • or 
he has altogether dropped out of notice fome John 
Combe, of Stratford, and a member of this family, 
whole wife and family are proved by the regifler to 
have exifted. 

The difficulty might ealily be folved if we entertained 
the idea of John a Combes having once married — his 
children having died — and that he was left a widower, 
inftead of being a bachelor. This would make things 
fmooth at once ; but unfortunately every fort of evi- 
dence and tradition agrees with the pedigree in making 
John a Combe always and ever a bachelor. 

We mult conclude, therefore, that Vincent altogether 
overlooked " Old John's " third marriage. May he 
not, pollibly, have confounded the one John with the 
other, and have made John a Combe by miftake the 
fon of Jocofa Blount, rather than of Role Clopton ? 

There is a ftrong imprellion on my mind that I have 
feen it ftated that John a Combe was the fon of Rofe 
Clopton. If the figures LI upon his tomb are intended 
to indicate his age, he muji have been ; for reckoning 
from 1562, the year after Role Clopton was married, 
to the year in which John a Combe died, he would 
have been 51 at the date of his death, July, 16145 
added to which, it muft be remarked that Vincent's 
Pedigree does make a "John Combe " to have been 
Rofe Clopton's eldeft child, only it reprefents him as 
the "brother John," and makes John a Combe the fon 
of the nrfr. wife. 

As regards the property or the defcent coming down 
to Martha Combe, wife of Edward Clopton, it matters 
not whether Vincent is right or wrong. The point is 
of fome intereft to thofe who are endeavouring to put 
together the fa6ls and affociations of Shakefpere's day, 
and to trace out the precife relations of thofe perfons 



among whom he moved in focial friendmip and in- 
timacy. As I faid before, I know my pofition is weak, 
and Vincent's very ftrong. I fubmit, theiefore, to his 
authority, with the ftrongeft inclination to difpute it. 
When John a Combe died, in 1614, he could not, 
under any circumstances, have been an old man. I cannot 
calculate him, though the fon of Jocofa Blount, to have 
been more than fixty at his death. Should it, how- 
ever, at any time appear that the figures on his tomb 
denote his real age, it would be a lingular coincidence 
to find that both Shakefpere and his attached friend 
died in their fifty-fecond year; and thofe figures 
would alfo eftablifh the fa6t that John a Combe came 
of the Clopton race, and mufl have been the fon of Rofe 
Clopton. 



K— page 277. 

In cafe the reader fhould have a curiolity to fee a 
houfe exactly like New Place in the lalt century, I 
may mention that the new line of railway between 
"Waterloo Station and London Bridge has lately dif- 
clofed one. In paffing along Union Street, in the 
Borough, in the narrow part, where the feries of arches 
runs clofe to the back of the houfes on the left (going 
towards London Bridge), there is a fmall ftreet, called 
Gravel Lane. In that ftreet I lately came upon the 
houfe referred to, and as it is precifely fimilar, even in 
fmall details, to the prints of New Place (1720), it 
may be an object of intereft to fome of my readers. 

As it ftands clofe into the angle where the Chatham 
and Dover Railway, going to Blackfriars Bridge, croffes 
the extenfion line from Waterloo to London Bridge, 
and the A6t of Parliament gives powers to purchafe 
this property, it may be well to draw attention to this 
interefling old houfe, before the iron Vifigoths fweep 
it away. It belongs to George Vaughan, Efq., of 
Weftbourne Terrace, and has been in pofleffion of his 

family 



family for a confiderable period. Mr. Vaughan's 
tenants, J. H. and G. T. James, hatters, have a 
worthy affection for the old — old place, which Hands an 
ancient landmark in the midft of modern buildings. 

Over the doorway, upon a lozenge, is the following 
infcription : — j 

D. H. 

1703. 

T C "P 

The old leaden tank bears date, ' K ' A 

1609. 

The broad llaircafe and the panelled rooms are care- 
fully preierved, with the exception of the oak out of 
one of the rooms, which Mr. Vaughan has lately, and 
very properly, removed to preferve it, in cafe he ihould 
be compelled to part with his cherilhed houfe. Gravel 
Lane leads down to the Thames, and to the lite of 
the Globe Theatre. The following fa6ts, therefore, 
become interefting. Mr. James remembers, when he 
was a boy, fome forty years ago, that rows of elm trees 
lkirted the lane ; and he can recall the fact of an aged 
carman in the employ of MefTrs. Vaughan, telling him 
about the year 1820, that when he was a youth, in 
taking the carts down to the Thames, he was obliged 
to pulh the bulhes and brambles out of the way to 
enable the cart to pafs. 

Thefe fa6ts are ftriking, becaufe they prove that the 
land behind the Globe Theatre retained the fame rural 
character to the end of the laft century which it muft 
have familiarly prefented to the eyes of William 
Shakefpere. 

There was, until a few months ago, a large garden 
at the back of Gravel Lane Houfe. It is now being 
built upon by the piers of the Chatham and Dover 
railway arches. In it, from time to time, many relics 
have been dug up. Of courfe there are many 
houfes around London of the fame character and date 
as this houfe, but none in the direction where it Hill 
exifts. I have not, however, feen anywhere a houfe 

fo 



fo exactly correfponding to the elevation of New Place 
(1720). It is the verifimilitude ; and, therefore, if the 
Londoner wifhes to fee what New Place was like at 
that date, he has only (before it is too late) to take a 
walk over Southwark Bridge, and penetrate the now 
denfely-populated and uninviting heart of the Borough, 
called Gravel Lane. 



L— page 317. 

The Revo R. Jagc is buried in the fide aifle of the 
nave of Snitterneld Church, of which he was Vicar. 
As a poet, he was well and defervedly known about 
Stratford, and many of his productions obtained a much 
wider popularity. He lives in the pages of " Elegant 
" Extracts." One of the bell parodies in the Englifh 
language, upon Hamlet's foliloquy, " To be or not to 
" be," will be found in that work. It was written by 
Mr. Jago, and defcribes the miferies of a would-be 
poet longing after bays. It commences, " To print, 
" or not to print," and while adhering moll clofely to 
the language of Shakefpere, admirably depicts the fears 
and hopes of the depreffed rhymeller, working up to 
this climax — 

" Thus critics do make cowards of us all." 

Mr. Jago died in 1781, iEt. 69. 

HATHAWAY, M, 

(See Shakespere Pedigree.) 

It appeared to me perfectly unneceffary to encumber 
the Shakefpere Pedigree with the defcents of the Hath- 
aways down to their extinction — in the Shottery branch 
— during the prefent century. To any one curious on 
the fubject, the Stratford regiflers will always fupply 
an abundant fund of information. 

I 



I have contented myielf, therefore, by merely intro- 
ducing in Shakefpere's Pedigree thole names which 
were ablblutely neceifary to ihow the connection with 
him by marriage ; and in this place I have collected 
together ibch material as teems to me valuable, in 
order to preferve a correct record of the lateit defcents 
of the Shottery family, and of the way in which the 
property palTed from them to its prefent owner. As 
no one has previoufly undertaken to do what I have 
thus done, I believe that the following information 
will not only be valuable on the inftant, but in fome 
few years hence will become very valuable to the 
antiquary, who will thank me for refcuing from oblivion 
many details which in another generation would have 
been loft for ever. I am under obligation to Mr. 
William Thompfon, of Stratford, the prefent owner of 
Ann Hathaway's Cottage, and alio to his folicitors, 
for the prompt manner in which they laid the 
title-deeds open to my infpeftion, and for the manner 
in which they fhowed themfelves anxious to give me 
any information they poireifed. Though Mr. Thompfon 
is yet a very young man, it was exceedingly agree- 
able to me to find that the Shottery property had 
come into the poifelhon of a gentleman who thoroughly 
appreciates its hiftoric affociations, and allures me of 
his intention to preferve the fabric from fpoliation or 
decay. My thanks are alio due to Mrs. Baker, of the 
Cottage, who, I trull, will have no reafon to regret the 
length of time that we puzzled together in her kitchen 
over the old family Bible, until we got the Pedigree 
corre6t, as far as her knowledge went. It mull, indeed, 
be a fource of unending regret to this good woman, 
when ihe recalls from day to day her father's fale of 
the houfe, which belonged for centuries to the long 
line of her anceftors. It was a bitter neceffity; and 
every vilitor to Ann Hathaway's Cottage mull feel 
with her, and for her. 

By the help of Mrs. Baker, Mr. Thompfon, his 
lawyer, and the pariih clerk, I have been enabled to 

put 



put together the accompanying Pedigree. By reading it 
through, and then perufing the abftracts I have made 
of deeds in Mr. Thompfon's poffeffion, the reader will 
be put in poffeffion of the hiftory of the Hathaway 
family during the laft hundred years. 

AbftraBs of Title Deeds, &c, regarding Ann Hathaway' 's 
Cottage, Shottery. 

I. 

Will of John Hathaway of Shottery (Pedigree, A). 

" Bequeathes to Urliila Good, now Urfula Kamill, 
" $s., payable 12 months after the deceafe of my 
" mother, Sarah Hathaway. 

" Alfo to my fitter, Jane Hathaway, now Jane 
"Webb (B), the fum of Twenty Pounds. 

" Alfo all Freehold Lands, i.e. in fee fimple, to my 
"loving mother, Sarah Hathaway, during her life ; and 
" after her deceafe, I devife the laid 

"To my three fitters, Sarah Hathaway (C), Elizabeth 
"Hathaway (D), and Sufannah Hathaway (E), and 
" their heirs. 

" And I hereby nominate my mother, Sarah Hafcha- 
"way (L), executrix, &c. 

" I have hereunto fet my feal this 7th day of Augufl, 
"in the 17th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, 
" George II. 

"Proved April 2, 1746." 



Will of Sarah Hathaway (C), dated May 3, 1779. 

" I give, devife, and bequeath unto my brother-in- 
'law, William Taylor (F), and Sufannah (E), his wife, 
'during their joint lives, and the life of the longeft 
' liver of them, all that my third part or fhare of and 
' in a meffuage or tenement, lands, hereditaments, and 
' premifes which I may die feized or poffeffed of or 
'entitled unto, fituate at Shottery aforefaid, in the 
' poffeffion of the faid William Taylor, or elfewhere — 

"and 



Uyn its K 




!Aard Standi 



I ( 

Susan Hath 

of Shotte 

, i W , 
haway Taylo 

ec. 1 8, 1747- 
|Iy 21 1818. 
'July, 1 8, 18: 
;pt. 9th, 1820 



. = Eliz. J 
9. Jan. 3 
ry. 

d, 

4.9. 



I 
Thomas. 
B. June 5, 17S9. 
Ob. March, 1835. 



= Mary Burbridge. 



! 



Six childrtn now living (1862.) 



athaway Bal 
r. 24, 1843. 
pprenticed. 



t aa pag;e ■ 



put together the accompanying Pedigree. By reading it 
through, and then perufing the abftracts I have made 
of deeds in Mr. Thompfon's poffeflion, the reader will 
be put in poffeffion of the hiftory of the Hathaway 
family during the laft hundred years. 

AbftraSls of Title Deeds, &c, regarding Ann Hathaway' 's 
Cottage, Shottery. 

I. 

Will of John Hathaway of Shottery (Pedigree, A). 

" Bequeathes to Urmia Good, now Urfula Kamill, 
" $s. t payable 11 months after the deceafe of my 
" mother, Sarah Hathaway. 

"Alfo to my filler, Jane Hathaway, now Jane 
"Webb (B), the fum of Twenty Pounds. 

" Alfo all Freehold Lands, i.e. in fee fimple, to my 
"loving mother, Sarah Hathaway, during her life ; and 
"after her deceafe, I devife the laid 

" To my three lifters, Sarah Hathaway (C), Elizabeth 
"Hathaway (D), and Sufannah Hathaway (E), and 
" their heirs. 

"And I hereby nominate my mother, Sarah Hatha- 
" way (L), executrix, &c. 

" I have hereunto fet my feal this 7th day of Auguft, 
"in the 17th year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, 
" George II. 

"Proved April 2, 1746." 



Will of Sarah Hathaway (C), dated May 3, 1779. 

"I give, devife, and bequeath unto my brother-in- 
'law, William Taylor (F), and Sufannah (E), his wife, 
' during their joint lives, and the life of the longefl 
' liver of them, all that my third part or fhare of and 
' in a meffuage or tenement, lands, hereditaments, and 
' premifes which I may die feized or pofTeffed of or 
' entitled unto, lituate at Shottery aforefaid, in the 
'pofTeffion of the faid William Taylor, or elfewhere — 

"and 



HATHAWAY. 

{The Later Defcenls of this Family, from its ExlinBhn in the DireB Male Line.) 
Hathaway. 



U]i£aU = |^-; o . 



I (H) 
Elizabeth = — Standley 
Hathaway I of Chipping Campden, 



John Hatha 
11 dated " 7 th day o 



rd April 2, .746. 
To jane Weh"^ 



This William Taylor 



By her will, proved 
at Worcester, Oct. 13, 
': he bequeaths the 

n phew lohn Hathaway 
Taylor. 



izabeth. Susan Hatl 



= William Taylor. 



John Hattaway Taylor. = Mary Hamp 

Ilapt. D,c. 18, 1747- I or Luddingto 

Obiit ,iyzi,.8i8. Ob. January 

Will dated July, 18, 1816. | Buried at St 



.., o Mr. Thomas Barnes 
.uddington for £345, by conveyance, 
d Oct. 30, 1838. 



Eliz. Dobbin. 
Obiit. at Brui 



Thomas. = Mary Burbriitfc. 



Mary Taylor. = George] 

I borough, .8.6. I in 1841a 

ized at Bidfurd. i at Cloptc 

Shottery. 



B.Junes, 1789. I 
Ob. March, .835. 



S.June 23, >«4J- 



Appendix. 377 

! and from and after the feveral deceafes of the laid 
' William Taylor and Sufannah his wife, then I give, 
'devife, and bequeath all and lingular the premifes 
1 aforefaid unto my nephew, John Hathaway Taylor (H). 
"Proved October 13, 1785, at Worcefter." 



Conveyance, July 22, 1795 — 
"Between Richard Standley (G), of Chipping Camp- 
" den, County of Gloucester, Flax-drelTer, eldeft fon and 
"heir-at-law of Elizabeth Standley (H), his late mother, 
" deceafed, who was one of the lifters, and a devizee 
"named in the laft will and teflament of Robert 
" Hathaway (M), heretofore of Shottery, parifh of Old 
" Stratford, County of Warwick, Yeoman, deceafed, 
" and Mary, the wife of the faid Richard Standley, of 
" the firft part ; John Hathaway Taylor (I), of Shottery 
" aforefaid, yeoman, of the fecond part ; Thomas Hunt, 
" of Stratford-upon-Avon, County of Warwick, gentle- 
" man, of the third part ; in conlideration of s€$$ to 
"laid Richard Standley, paid by laid John Hathaway 
" Taylor, the faid Richard Standley did convey unto 
" faid John Hathaway Taylor, all that one undivided 
" third part or lhare, the whole into three equal parts 
" to be divided, of and in all thole two feveral cottages 
"or tenements, and two orchards, &c. &c, lituated in 
" Shottery, aforefaid. 

" Conveyed in fee to John Hathaway Taylor." 

4- 

Fine, Michaelmas Term, 36 George III. — 
" Between Thomas Hunt, gentleman, plaintive, 
"Richard Standley, and Mary his wife, to bar dower." 

5- 

Will of John Hathaway Taylor (I), dated July 18, 1816. 

"John Hathaway Taylor, of Shottery, Lime-burner, 

" bequeathes unto my wife, Mary Taylor (J), and her 

" affigns, 



' affigns, for and during the term of her natural life, 
' all thofe my feveral meffuages or tenements, &c. 
'fituate lying and being in Shottery, parifh of Old 
' Stratford aforefaid, and now in my own and Samuel 
'Bridges' occupation as tenant thereof to me; and 
' from and after the deceafe of my faid wife, I give 
'and devife the faid meffuages, &c, unto my fon, 
'William Taylor (L), his heirs and affigns for ever. 
° Proved, 9th September, 1820." 

6. 

Mortgage, January 5, 1836. 

"William Taylor (K) to Thomas Talker ; mortgage 
'of Houfes and Premifes at Shottery, for fecuring 
c ^ioo and interefl. 




7- 
Conveyance, October 30, 1838 — 

" By William Taylor (K) and the Mortgagee to Mr. 
'Thomas Barnes, in fee of two meffuages, orchards 
' and gardens and premifes, at Shottery, parifh of Old 
' Stratford, County of Warwick. William Taylor re- 
'ceived ^245, confideration money, and Thomas 
'Tafker, the mortgagee, ^100 from Mr. Thomas 
' Barnes, of Luddington." 



Mr. Thomas Barnes, by will, dated January 5, 1855 — 

"Devifed all thofe three cottages or tenements — 
"formerly Hathaways — and fituated in Shottery afore- 
" faid, unto William Thompfon, his heirs and affigns 
"for ever." 

Baptifm, 



Appendix, 379 

Baptifm, 1747. — December 18, John Hathaway, ion 
of William Taylor. 

1809. — John Taylor and Elizabeth Barnett, married, 
January 3, at Stratford. 

1828. — September 5, John Taylor, buried, aged 49. 

1835. — January 10, Mary Taylor, aged 82. 

I append a few entries from the Marriage Regifter 
of Stratford which are not familiar; though attention 
has been previously drawn to that of Jan. 17, 1579, 
when one William Wilfonne married one " Anne 
" Hathaway of Shottery e." 

The extracts from churchwardens' accounts I have 
not feen before in print. Theie accounts are full of 
the names and Signatures of perfons with whom we are 
familiar as living in Shakefpere's time. 

Marriage Regifter, Stratford. 

1^67. January 13. — Lawrentius Walker et Phillippa 
Hathaway. 

1570. October 22. — George Hathaway et Anne 
Catan, of Loxley. 

1^72. May 18. — Henry Smith, of Banbury, to Ales 
Hathaway, of Shottery. 

1575. Thomas Hathaway et Margaret Smith. 

1579. January I 7- — William Wilfonne et Anne 
Hathaway, of Shottery e. 

June 22. — David Jones et Ffrances Hathaway. 

1634. — Regifter ligned by John Hathaway, church- 
warden. 

Churchwarden s Accounts. 

1633. July 18. 

Signed, Tho. Name. 
" A Levy of Taxation " of ^40 through- 
out the whole pariln. 

The 



380 Appendix. 

The account of William Walford, April, 

1 61 8, churchwarden for the year pall. Borough of 
Stratford : 

" Henley St. Ward. 
" Received of Rich. Hathaway . . iij s * iiij d- " 

Sept. die. Junii, Anno 1619. 

Accounts figned, Richard Hathway. 

The fifteenth of April, 1628. 

Mr. John Hall, Churchwarden for the Borough. 

7 th day of April, 1629. 

Surveyors for the highways. 

George Barker, ) c , n ' 
T 1 6 u .. \ for the County. 

John Hathaway, \ J 

24th day of February, 1627. 
Will. Combe. 
Ge. Combe. 

Richard Hathaway. 

8th day of October, 1626, j T , „ ,, -n va ~ 

2? th March, 1627. f R - Hathaway, Bayhfle. 

3rd day of April, 1621. 

Batholomew Hathaway, 
George Quiney, Curat. 

Ditto, April, 28, 1620. 

Oft. 17, 1641. Tho. Clopton. 

The name of Barnard appears frequently. 



J. S. Virtue, Printer, City Eoad, London. 



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THE CELT, ROMAN, AND SAXON. 

A History of the Early Inhabitants of Britain, down to the Conversion of 
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Works Recently Published {continued). 



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RIPPON'S (Dr.) SELECTION OF HYMNS 

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BIBLE CHANTS, ADAPTED FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP. 



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By William Shelmerdine, Conductor of the Sacred Harmonic Society, 
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SCRIPTURE SITES AND SCENES, 

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Woeks Recently Published {continued). 



In fcap. 8vo., price 5s., cloth gilt, 

THE PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID; 

Ob, THREE YEARS IN THE HOLY CITY. 

Edited by the Rev. Professor J. H. Ingraham:, Rector of St. John's Church, 

Mobile. Illustrated with Engravings. 

and it conveys much valuable informa- 
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East."— British Standard. 

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FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 

A Portraiture from the Life. By Eredrika Bremer. 



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THE MILL IN THE VALLEY. 

A Tale of German Rural Life. By the Author of " An English Girl's 
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BARBAULD'S LEQONS POUR DES ENFANS, 

Depuis l'age de Deux Ans jusqu'a Cinq. Avec une Interpretation Anglaise. 
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MANUAL OF THE ANALOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF 
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By the Rev. J. Caelile, D.D. New Edition, enlarged. 



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CHRISTIE'S CONSTRUCTIVE ETYMOLOGICAL 
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THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

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CHILD'S FIRST STEP TO ENGLISH HISTORY. 

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DERIVATIVE SPELLING-BOOK, 

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STUDIES IN ENGLISH POETRY, 

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Introduction to the Study of English Literature. By Joseph Payne. 



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A CATECHISM OF FAMILIAR THINGS, 

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Educational Works {continued). 



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THE RUDIMENTS OF BOTANY. 

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UNITY IN VARIETY, 

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SCHOOL PERSPECTIVE; 

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McHENRY'S SPANISH COURSE. 



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NEW AND IMPROVED GRAMMAR, 

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Containing the Elements of the Spanish Language, and the Rules of 
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EXERCISES ON THE ETYMOLOGY, SYNTAX, AND 
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Educational Works {continued). 



OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ANALYSES AND SUMMARIES 

OP 

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY 
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ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF OLD TESTAMENT 
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ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF NEW TESTAMENT 
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COMPANION ATLAS TO THE SERIES. 

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Educational Works '{continued). 



A COMPLETE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN THE 
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NEW FRENCH SCHOOL, BY M. LE PAGE, 

PROFESSOR OF FRENCH IN LONDON. 



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Twenty-eighth Edition, with Additions and numerous Woodcuts, in 12mo., 
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J LE PAGE'S L'ECHO DE PARIS. 

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LE PAGE'S FRENCH SCHOOL -PART II. 

LE PAGE'S GIFT OF FLUENCY IN FRENCH CONVERSATION. 

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%* Mons. Le Page has also published, for the use of Junior Classes, 
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A KEY TO THE GLTT OF EREN'CH COXYEBSATIOX. 

The Key gives the correct translation of the French, thereby showing which, 
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LE PAGE'S NICETIES of PARISIAN PRONUNCIATION. 

ETREXSES AUX DAMES AXGLAISES ;; 
Being a Key to French Pronunciation in all its niceties. Price 6d. 



Just published, price Is., 

LE PAGE'S KEY TO "L'ECHO DE PARIS.' 



LE PAGE'S JUVENILE TREASURY OF FRENCH 
CONVERSATION; 

■With the English before the French. Price 3s. 



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Educational Works 



Seventh Edition, in a neat pocket volume, pp. 420, price 4s., 

LE PAGE'S FRENCH PROMPTER; 

A HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS ON THE CONTINENT AND STUDENTS 
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A Complete Manual of Conversation, arranged in alphabetical order, so a3 
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Third Edition, in 12mo., neatly bound in cloth, price 3s. 6d., 

IE PAGE'S READY GUIDE TO FRENCH COMPOSITION. 

FRENCH GRAMMAR BY EXAMPLES. 

Giving Models as Leading- Strings throughout Accidence and Syntax, and 
presenting a comparative view of the English and French idioms in their 
principal differences. 



WITH FULL ALLOWANCE TO SCHOOLS AND PRIVATE TEACHERS. 

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TATE'S ELEMENTS OF COMMERCIAL ARITHMETIC. 

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KEY TO THE ELEMENTS OF COMMERCIAL 
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In 1 vol. post 8vo., price 10s. 6d., cloth, 
A DICTIONARY OE TERMS IN ART: Edited and illustrated by F. 
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PRACTICAL HINTS ON PORTRAIT PAINTING; Illustrated by 
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In demy 4to., price 12s , cloth lettered, 
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In demy 4to., price 12s., cloth lettered, 
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THE ART-JOURNAL: 

A RECORD OF THE "FINE ARTS AND THE ARTS INDUSTRIAL. 
PRICE 2s. 6d. MONTHLY. 



A New Volume of the Art-Journal was commenced with the 1st of 
January, 1863, in which arrangements have been made for largely augmenting 
its interest and value. It will be seen that the services of several eminent 
and popular writers on Art and Science have been obtained ; and that while 

THREE STEEL EMRAVIMS WILL BE 0I7EI MONTHLY, 

The Illustrations by Engravings on Wood will be continued, principally of 
the more attractive and instructive objects contained in the International 
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honour to every leading manufacturer of Europe. 

BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCULPTURE. 

These Engravings will be resumed in the present year, and comprise beautiful 
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SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR. 

A Series of Seven Line Engravings will be given, representing the present state of 
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Paintings by Thomas Allom, the artist- architect, by whom they were visited with 
that view. They will be engraved by Cousen, Brandard, Willmore, and Allen. 

THE "TURNER GALLERY" 

Will supply engravings of the leading pictures bequeathed to the nation by the great 
artist. 

SELECTED PICTURES. 

These have been chosen chiefly from the private collections of British Art-patrons, 
who have liberally placed them at the disposal of the Editor. They consi t exclu- 
sively of the productions of British Artists, and will include at least one example of 
every painter who has achieved fame in Great Britain. The Engravings are executed 
by the best engravers of England, Germany, and France. 

The Letter-press will, as heretofore, consist of several Illustrated articles, 
such as may derive additional value from association with Engravings ; of 
Essays on the higher and more important purposes of Art, endeavouring to 
render the subject in all its ramifications popular ; while attention will be 
given to every topic that can forward the interests of Art and Art-manu- 
facture, so as to render the Art- Journal indispensable in the Atelier and 
the Workshop, as a source of instruction, as well as welcome in the Drawing- 
room, by its elegance of character and the graceful and beautiful nature of 
its varied contents. 

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24 






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